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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


■  & 
^  / 


^ 


IN  THE  SOUTH  SEAS 


IN  THE  SOUTH  SEAS 


BEING 

AN    ACCOUNT    OF    EXPERIENCES 

AND    OBSERVATIONS    IN    THE    MARQUESAS, 

PAUMOTUS    AND    GILBERT    ISLANDS    IN    THE    COURSE    OF 

TWO  CRUISES  ON  THE  YACHT  "CASCO"  (1888) 

AND    THE    SCHOONER "EQUATOR" 

(i88g) 


BY 

ROBERT   LOUIS   STEVENSON 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

1896 


Copyright,  1891,  by 
S.  S.  McClure. 

Copyright,  1892-1896,  by 
Charles  Scribner's  Sons. 


w-^ 


''  Du. 


EDITORIAL  NOTE 


The  following  chapters  are  here  printed  in  book  form  for  the  first  time. 
They  are  selected  from  a  series  which  was  first  published  partially  in 
"Black  and  White"  (February  to  December,  1891),  and  fully  in  the 
New  York  "Sun"  during  the  same  period. 

The  voyages  which  supplied  the  occasion  and  the  material  for  the 
work  were  three  in  number,  viz. :  one  of  seven  months  (June,  1888,  to 
January,  1889),  in  the  yacht  "Casco,"  from  San  Francisco  to  the  Mar- 
quesas, the  Paumotus,  Tahiti,  and  thence  northwards  to  Hawaii  ;  a 
second  (June  to  December,  1889),  in  the  trading  schooner  "  Equator," 
from  Honolulu,  the  Hawaiian  capital  (where  the  author  had  stayed  in 
the  interval),  to  the  Gilberts  and  thence  to  Samoa;  and  a  third  (April 
to  September,  1890),  in  the  trading  steamer,  "Janet  NicoU,"  which 
set  out  from  Sydney  and  followed  a  very  devious  course,  extending  as 
far  as  from  Penrhyn  in  the  Eastern  to  the  Marshall  Islands  in  the 
Western  Pacific.  The  course  of  these  several  voyages  can  easily  be 
traced  on  the  accompanying  map,  where  each  is  marked  by  a  differ- 
ent kind  of  red  line. 

Before  setting  out  on  his  Pacific  travels,  the  author  had  contracted 
to  write  an  account  of  them  in  the  form  of  letters  for  serial  publica- 
tion. The  plan  by  and  by  changed  in  his  mind  into  that  of  a  book 
partly  of  travel  and  partly  of  research,  which  should  combine  the  re- 
sults of  much  careful  observation  and  inquiry  upon  matters  of  island 
history,  custom,  belief,  and  tradition,  with  some  account  of  his  own 
experiences  and  those  of  his  traveling  companions.  Under  the  nom- 
inal title  of  "Letters"  he  began  to  compose  the  chapters  of  such  a 
book  on  board  the  "Janet  Nicoll,"  and  continued  the  task  during  the 
first  ten  months  of  his  residence  in  Samoa  (October,  i8qo,  to  July, 
1891).     These  chapters  were  sent  home  in  fulfilment  of  his  promise; 

V 


5000929 


EDITORIAL  NOTE 

but  before  the  serial  publication  had  gone  very  far,  he  realized  that 
the  personal  and  the  impersonal  elements  were  not  very  successfully 
combined,  nor  in  proportions  that  contented  his  readers.  Accordingly 
he  abandoned  for  the  time  being  the  idea  of  republishing  the  chapters 
in  book  form  ;  but  when  the  scheme  of  the  Edinburgh  Edition  was 
maturing,  he  desired  that  a  selection  should  be  made  from  them,  and 
should  appear  as  volume  xx.  of  the  edition.  That  desire  has  now 
been  carried  out. 

It  must  be  understood  that  a  considerable  portion  of  the  author's 
voyages  above  mentioned  is  not  recorded  at  all  in  the  following  pages. 
Of  one  of  its  most  attractive  episodes,  the  visit  to  Tahiti,  no  account 
was  written  ;  while  of  his  experiences  in  Hawaii  he  only  narrated  a 
visit  to  the  Kona  coast  and  to  the  leper  settlement  at  Molokai.  These 
chapters  did  not  come  out  at  all  to  his  own  satisfaction,  and  have 
accordingly  been  omitted.  So  have  some  others  describing  a  visit  to 
Penrhyn  in  the  course  of  his  third  voyage. 

Of  the  four  sections  here  given,  each  is  complete  in  itself.  The  first 
deals  with  the  Marquesas  (the  scene  of  Hermann  Melville's  "  Typee  "), 
the  second  with  the  Paumotus — the  former  a  volcanic  and  moun- 
tainous group,  the  latter  a  group  of  atolls  or  low  coral  islands,  both 
in  the  Eastern  Pacific,  and  both  under  the  protectorate  of  France. 
The  last  two  sections  describe  the  author's  residence  in  the  Gilberts, 
a  remote  and  little  known  corai  group  in  the  Western  Pacific,  which 
at  the  time  of  his  visit  was  under  independent  native  government, 
but  has  since  been  annexed  by  Great  Britain.  This  is  the  part  of  his 
work  with  which  the  author  was  himself  best  satisfied,  and  it  derives 
additional  interest  from  describing  a  state  of  manners  and  govern- 
ment which  has  now  passed  away. 


A  MAP  OF  THE  SOUTH  SEA  ISLANDS 


Group. 

Nationality  to  which  these 
Islands  belong. 

Date  of  Acquisition 

Fiji  Islands. 
Solomon  Islands. 
Cook  or  Hervey  Islands. 
Gilbert  Islands. 
Ellice  Islands. 
Phcenix  Islands. 
Tokelau  or  Union  Islands 
Manihiki. 

New  Hebrides. 


Society  Islands. 
Marquesas  Islands. 
Paumotu  Islands'. 
Loyalty  Islands. 
New  Caledonia. 

Marshall  Islands. 

Sandwich  Islands. 


Samoa. 


Tonga      or      Friendly 
Islands. 


British. 

British  and  German. 

British. 

British . 

British. 

British. 

British. 

British. 

Native.  Regulated  by  a 
mixed  commission  of 
British  and  French 
naval  officers. 


1874 
1886 
1888 
1892 
1892 
1889 
1889 


French. 

1887 

French. 

1842 

French. 

1842 

French. 

1864 

French. 

1853 

German. 

i885 

Independent. 

Republic  proclaimed 

July,  1894. 

Independent.     Subject 

Berlin  Samoan  Con- 

to joint  British,  Ger- 

ference, 1SS9. 

man,   and   American 

control. 

Independent. 

A  MAP  TO  ILLPSTRATE  B.  L.  STBVENSONS  THREE  ORDISES  IN  THE  SODTH  SBA8. 


CONTENTS 


Part  I 
THE   MARQUESAS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I  An  Island  Landfall i 

II  Making  Friends 9 

III  The  Maroon 19 

IV  Death 28 

V  Depopulation 37 

VI     Chiefs  and  Tapus 47 

VII     Hatiheu 57 

VIII     The  Port  of  Entry 67 

IX    The  House  of  Temoana 76 

X    A  Portrait  and  a  Story 86 

XI     LoNG-PiG — A  Cannibal  High  Place       96 

XIl     The  Story  of  a  Plantation 108 

XIII  Characters 120 

XIV  In  a  Cannibal  Valley 129 

XV     The  Two  Chiefs  of  Atuona 138 

Part  II 
THE   PAUMOTUS 

1     The  Dangerous  Archipelago — Atolls  at  a  Distance       .  151 

II  Fakarava  :  An  Atoll  at  Hand 160 

III  A  House  to  Let  in  a  Low  Island 171 

IV  Traits  and  Sects  in  the  Paumotus 182 

V  A  Paumotuan  Funeral 194 

VI     Graveyard  Stories 200 

vii 


THE   GILBERTS 


CONTENTS 
Part  III 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

1   BUTARITARI 221 

II     The  Four  Brothers 228 

III  Around  our  House 238 

IV  A  Tale  of  a  Tapu 249 

V  A  Tale  of  a  Tapu  (continued) 259 

VI  The  Five  Days'  Festival 271 

VII     Husband  and  V^ife 287 

Part  IV 

THE  GILBERTS— APEMAMA 

I  The  King  of  Apemama:  The  Royal  Trader 299 

11  The  King  of  Apemama:  Foundation  of  Equator  Town    .  309 

III  The  King  of  Apemama:  The  Palace  of  Many  Women       .  319 

IV  The  King  of  Apemama:  Equator  Town  and  the  Palace  .   328 

V  King  and  Commons 337 

VI  The  King  of  Apemama:  Devil-Work 348 

VII  The  King  of  Apemama 363 


PART  I:    THE  MARQUESAS 


PART  I  :  THE  MARQUESAS 


CHAPTER   I 

AN    ISLAND    LANDFALL 

FOR  nearly  ten  years  my  health  had  been  declining ; 
and  for  some  while  before  1  set  forth  upon  my  voy- 
age, I  believed  I  was  come  to  the  afterpiece  of  life,  and 
had  only  the  nurse  and  undertaker  to  expect.  It  was 
suggested  that  I  should  try  the  South  Seas;  and  I  was 
not  unwilling  to  visit  like  a  ghost,  and  be  carried  like  a 
bale,  among  scenes  that  had  attracted  me  in  youth  and 
health.  I  chartered  accordingly  Dr.  Merrit's  schooner 
yacht,  the  Casco,  seventy-four  tons  register;  sailed  from 
San  Francisco  towards  the  end  of  June  1888,  visited  the 
Eastern  islands,  and  was  left  early  the  next  year  at 
Honolulu.  Hence,  lacking  courage  to  return  to  my  old 
life  of  the  house  and  sick-room,  1  set  forth  to  leeward  in 
a  trading  schooner,  the  Equator,  of  a  little  over  seventy 
tons,  spent  four  months  among  the  atolls  (low  coral 
islands)  of  the  Gilbert  group,  and  reached  Samoa 
towards  the  close  of  '89.  By  that  time  gratitude  and 
habit  were  beginning  to  attach  me  to  the  islands;  I  had 
gained  a  competency  of  strength;  I  had  made  friends; 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

I  had  learned  new  interests;  the  time  of  my  voyages 
had  passed  like  days  in  fairyland;  and  I  decided  to  re- 
main. I  began  to  prepare  these  pages  at  sea,  on  a  third 
cruise,  in  the  trading  steamer  Janet  Nicoll.  If  more 
days  are  granted  me,  they  shall  be  passed  where  I  have 
found  life  most  pleasant  and  man  most  interesting;  the 
axes  of  my  black  boys  are  already  clearing  the  founda- 
tions of  my  future  house;  and  I  must  learn  to  address 
readers  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  sea. 

That  I  should  thus  have  reversed  the  verdict  of  Lord 
Tennyson's  hero  is  less  eccentric  than  appears.  Few 
men  who  come  to  the  islands  leave  them ;  they  grow 
grey  where  they  alighted;  the  palm  shades  and  the 
trade-wind  fans  them  till  they  die,  perhaps  cherishing 
to  the  last  the  fancy  of  a  visit  home,  which  is  rarely 
made,  more  rarely  enjoyed,  and  yet  more  rarely  repeated. 
No  part  of  the  world  exerts  the  same  attractive  power 
upon  the  visitor,  and  the  task  before  me  is  to  commu- 
nicate to  fireside  travellers  some  sense  of  its  seduction, 
and  to  describe  the  life,  at  sea  and  ashore,  of  many  hun- 
dred thousand  persons,  some  of  our  own  blood  and 
language,  all  our  contemporaries,  and  yet  as  remote  in 
thought  and  habit  as  Rob  Roy  or  Barbarossa,  the  Apos- 
tles or  the  Caesars. 

The  first  experience  can  never  be  repeated.  The  first 
love,  the  first  sunrise,  the  first  South  Sea  island,  are 
memories  apart,  and  touched  a  virginity  of  sense.  On 
the  28th  of  July  1888  the  moon  was  an  hour  down  by 
four  in  the  morning.  In  the  east  a  radiating  centre  of 
brightness  told  of  the  day;  and  beneath,  on  the  skyline, 
the  morning  bank  was  already  building,  black  as  ink. 
We  have  all  read  of  the  swiftness  of  the  day's  coming 


AN    ISLAND    LANDFALL 

and  departure  in  low  latitudes;  it  is  a  point  on  which 
the  scientific  and  sentimental  tourist  are  at  one,  and 
has  inspired  some  tasteful  poetry.  The  period  certainly 
varies  with  the  season;  but  here  is  one  case  exactly 
noted.  Although  the  dawn  was  thus  preparing  by 
four,  the  sun  was  not  up  till  six;  and  it  was  half-pcist 
five  before  we  could  distinguish  our  expected  islands 
from  the  clouds  on  the  horizon.  Eight  degrees  south, 
and  the  day  two  hours  a-coming.  The  interval  was 
passed  on  deck  in  the  silence  of  expectation,  the  cus- 
tomary thrill  of  landfall  heightened  by  the  strangeness 
of  the  shores  that  we  were  then  approaching.  Slowly 
they  took  shape  in  the  attenuating  darkness,  Ua-huna, 
piling  up  to  a  truncated  summit,  appeared  the  first  upon 
the  starboard  bow;  almost  abeam  arose  our  destination, 
Nuka-hiva,  whelmed  in  cloud;  and  betwixt  and  to  the 
southward,  the  first  rays  of  the  sun  displayed  the  need- 
les of  Ua-pu.  These  pricked  about  the  line  of  the  hori- 
zon ;  like  the  pinnacles  of  some  ornate  and  monstrous 
church,  they  stood  there,  in  the  sparkling  brightness  of 
the  morning,  the  fit  sign-board  of  a  world  of  wonders. 
Not  one  soul  aboard  the  Casco  had  set  foot  upon  the 
islands,  or  knew,  except  by  accident,  one  word  of  any 
of  the  island  tongues;  and  it  was  with  something  per- 
haps of  the  same  anxious  pleasure  as  thrilled  the  bosom 
of  discoverers  that  we  drew  near  these  problematic 
shores.  The  land  heaved  up  in  peaks  and  rising  vales; 
it  fell  in  cliffs  and  buttresses;  its  colour  ran  through  fifty 
modulations  in  a  scale  of  pearl  and  rose  and  olive;  and 
it  was  crowned  above  by  opalescent  clouds.  The  suf- 
fusion of  vague  hues  deceived  the  eye;  the  shadows  of 
clouds  were  confounded  with  the  articulations  of  the 

3 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

mountain;  and  the  isle  and  its  unsubstantial  canopy  rose 
and  shimmered  before  us  like  a  single  mass.  There  was 
no  beacon,  no  smoke  of  towns  to  be  expected,  no  ply- 
ing pilot.  Somewhere,  in  that  pale  phantasmagoria  of 
cliff  and  cloud,  our  haven  lay  concealed;  and  some- 
where to  the  east  of  it  —  the  only  sea-mark  given  —  a 
certain  headland,  known  indifferently  as  Cape  Adam  and 
Eve,  or  Cape  Jack  and  Jane,  and  distinguished  by  two 
colossal  figures,  the  gross  statuary  of  nature.  These  we 
were  to  find;  for  these  we  craned  and  stared,  focussed 
glasses,  and  wrangled  over  charts;  and  the  sun  was 
overhead  and  the  land  close  ahead  before  we  found 
them.  To  a  ship  approaching,  like  the  Casco,  from  the 
north,  they  proved  indeed  the  least  conspicuous  features 
of  a  striking  coast;  the  surf  flying  high  above  its  base; 
strange,  austere,  and  feathered  mountains  rising  behind; 
and  Jack  and  Jane,  or  Adam  and  Eve,  impending  like  a 
pair  of  warts  above  the  breakers. 

Thence  we  bore  away  along  shore.  On  our  port  beam 
we  might  hear  the  explosions  of  the  surf;  a  few  birds 
flew  fishing  under  the  prow;  there  was  no  other  sound 
or  mark  of  life,  whether  of  man  or  beast,  in  all  that  quar- 
ter of  the  island.  Winged  by  her  own  impetus  and  the 
dying  breeze,  the  Casco  skimmed  under  cliffs,  opened 
out  a  cove,  showed  us  a  beach  and  some  green  trees,  and 
flitted  by  again,  bowing  to  the  swell.  The  trees,  from 
our  distance,  might  have  been  hazel;  the  beach  might 
have  been  in  Europe;  the  mountain  forms  behind  mod- 
elled in  little  from  the  Alps,  and  the  forests  which  clus- 
tered on  their  ramparts  a  growth  no  more  considerable 
than  our  Scottish  heath.  Again  the  cliff  yawned,  but 
now  with  a  deeper  entry;  and  the  Casco,  hauling  her 

4 


AN    ISLAND    LANDFALL 

wind,  began  to  slide  into  the  bay  of  Anaho.  The  cocoa 
palm,  that  giraffe  of  vegetables,  so  graceful,  so  ungainly, 
to  the  European  eye  so  foreign,  was  to  be  seen  crowd- 
ing on  the  beach,  and  climbing  and  fringing  the  steep 
sides  of  mountains.  Rude  and  bare  hills  embraced 
the  inlet  upon  either  hand;  it  was  enclosed  to  the  land- 
ward by  a  bulk  of  shattered  mountains.  In  every  crev- 
ice of  that  barrier  the  forest  harboured,  roosting  and 
nesting  there  like  birds  about  a  ruin;  and  far  above,  it 
greened  and  roughened  the  razor  edges  of  the  summit. 
Under  the  eastern  shore,  our  schooner,  now  bereft  of 
any  breeze,  continued  to  creep  in :  the  smart  creature, 
when  once  under  way,  appearing  motive  in  herself. 
From  close  aboard  arose  the  bleating  of  young  lambs;  a 
bird  sang  in  the  hillside;  the  scent  of  the  land  and  of  a 
hundred  fruits  or  flowers  flowed  forth  to  meet  us;  and, 
presently,  a  house  or  two  appeared,  standing  high  upon 
the  ankles  of  the  hills,  and  one  of  these  surrounded  with 
what  seemed  a  garden.  These  conspicuous  habitations, 
that  patch  of  culture,  had  we  but  known  it,  were  a  mark 
of  the  passage  of  whites;  and  we  might  have  approached 
a  hundred  islands  and  not  found  their  parallel.  It  was 
longer  ere  we  spied  the  native  village,  standing  (in  the 
universal  fashion)  close  upon  a  curve  of  beach,  close 
under  a  grove  of  palms;  the  sea  in  front  growling  and 
whitening  on  a  concave  arc  of  reef.  For  the  cocoa-tree 
and  the  island  man  are  both  lovers  and  neighbours  of 
the  surf.  "The  coral  waxes,  the  palm  grows,  but  man 
departs,"  says  the  sad  Tahitian  proverb;  but  they  are 
all  three,  so  long  as  they  endure,  co-haunters  of  the 
beach.  The  mark  of  anchorage  was  a  blow-hole  in  the 
rocks,  near  the  south-easterly  corner  of  the  bay.     Punc- 

5 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

tually  to  our  use,  the  blow-hole  spouted;  the  schooner 
turned  upon  her  heel;  the  anchor  plunged.  It  was  a 
small  sound,  a  great  event;  my  soul  "  went  down  with 
these  moorings  whence  no  windlass  may  extract  nor 
any  diver  fish  it  up;  and  I,  and  some  part  of  my  ship's 
company,  were  from  that  hour  the  bondslaves  of  the 
isles  of  Vivien." 

Before  yet  the  anchor  plunged  a  canoe  was  already 
paddling  from  the  hamlet.  It  contained  two  men:  one 
white,  one  brown  and  tattooed  across  the  face  with 
bands  of  blue,  both  in  immaculate  white  European 
clothes:  the  resident  trader,  Mr.  Regler,  and  the  native 
chief,  Taipi-Kikino.  "Captain,  is  it  permitted  to  come 
on  board  ?"  were  the  first  words  we  heard  among  the 
islands.  Canoe  followed  canoe  till  the  ship  swarmed 
with  stalwart,  six-foot  men  in  every  stage  of  undress; 
some  in  a  shirt,  some  in  a  loin-cloth,  one  in  a  handker- 
chief imperfectly  adjusted;  some,  and  these  the  more 
considerable,  tattooed  from  head  to  foot  in  awful  pat- 
terns; some  barbarous  and  knived;  one,  who  sticks  in 
my  memory  as  something  bestial,  squatting  on  his  hams 
in  a  canoe,  sucking  an  orange  and  spitting  it  out  again 
to  alternate  sides  with  ape-like  vivacity  —  all  talking, 
and  we  could  not  understand  one  word;  all  trying  to 
trade  with  us  who  had  no  thought  of  trading,  or  offer- 
ing us  island  curios  at  prices  palpably  absurd.  There 
was  no  word  of  welcome;  no  show  of  civility;  no  hand 
extended  save  that  of  the  chief  and  Mr.  Regler.  As  we 
still  continued  to  refuse  the  proffered  articles,  complaint 
ran  high  and  rude;  and  one,  the  jester  of  the  party,  railed 
upon  our  meanness  amid  jeering  laughter.  Amongst 
other  angry  pleasantries  — "  Here  is  a  mighty  fine  ship, " 

6 


AN    ISLAND    LANDFALL 

said  he,  "to  have  no  money  on  board!  "  I  own  I  was 
inspired  with  sensible  repugnance;  even  with  alarm. 
The  ship  was  manifestly  in  their  power;  we  had  women 
on  board ;  I  knew  nothing  of  my  guests  beyond  the  fact 
that  they  were  cannibals;  the  Directory  (my  only  guide) 
was  full  of  timid  cautions;  and  as  for  the  trader,  whose 
presence  might  else  have  reassured  me,  were  not  whites 
in  the  Pacific  the  usual  instigators  and  accomplices  of 
native  outrage  ?  When  he  reads  this  confession,  our 
kind  friend,  Mr.  Regler,  can  afford  to  smile. 

Later  in  the  day,  as  1  sat  writing  up  my  journal,  the 
cabin  was  filled  from  end  to  end  with  Marquesans:  three 
brown-skinned  generations,  squatted  cross-legged  upon 
the  floor,  and  regarding  me  in  silence  with  embarrass- 
ing eyes.  The  eyes  of  all  Polynesians  are  large,  lumi- 
nous, and  melting;  they  are  like  the  eyes  of  animals  and 
some  Italians.  A  kind  of  despair  came  over  me,  to  sit 
there  helpless  under  all  these  staring  orbs,  and  be  thus 
blocked  in  a  corner  of  my  cabin  by  this  speechless 
crowd:  and  a  kind  of  rage  to  think  they  were  beyond 
the  reach  of  articulate  communication,  like  furred  ani- 
mals, or  folk  born  deaf,  or  the  dwellers  of  some  alien 
planet. 

To  cross  the  Channel  is,  for  a  boy  of  twelve,  to  change 
heavens ;  to  cross  the  Atlantic,  for  a  man  of  twenty-four, 
is  hardly  to  modify  his  diet.  But  1  was  now  escaped 
out  of  the  shadow  of  the  Roman  empire,  under  whose 
toppling  monuments  we  were  all  cradled,  whose  laws 
and  letters  are  on  every  hand  of  us,  constraining  and 
preventing.  I  was  now  to  see  what  men  might  be 
whose  fathers  had  never  studied  Virgil,  had  never  been 
conquered  by  Caesar,  and  never  been  ruled  by  the  wis- 

7 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

dom  of  Gaius  or  Papinian.  By  the  same  step  I  had 
journeyed  forth  out  of  that  comfortable  zone  of  kindred 
languages,  where  the  curse  of  Babel  is  so  easy  to  be 
remedied ;  and  my  new  fellow-creatures  sat  before  me 
dumb  like  images.  Methought,  in  my  travels,  all  hu- 
man relation  was  to  be  excluded;  and  when  I  returned 
home  (for  in  those  days  I  still  projected  my  return)  1 
should  have  but  dipped  into  a  picture-book  without  a 
text.  Nay,  and  I  even  questioned  if  my  travels  should 
be  much  prolonged;  perhaps  they  were  destined  to  a 
speedy  end ;  perhaps  my  subsequent  friend,  Kauanui, 
whom  I  remarked  there,  sitting  silent  with  the  rest,  for 
a  man  of  some  authority,  might  leap  from  his  hams 
with  an  ear-splitting  signal,  the  ship  be  carried  at  a 
rush,  and  the  ship's  company  butchered  for  the  table. 

There  could  be  nothing  more  natural  than  these  ap- 
prehensions, nor  anything  more  groundless.  In  my 
experience  of  the  islands,  I  had  never  again  so  menacing 
a  reception;  were  I  to  meet  with  such  to-day,  I  should 
be  more  alarmed  and  tenfold  more  surprised.  The 
majority  of  Polynesians  are  easy  folk  to  get  in  touch 
with,  frank,  fond  of  notice,  greedy  of  the  least  affection, 
like  amiable,  fawning  dogs;  and  even  with  the  Mar- 
quesans,  so  recently  and  so  imperfectly  redeemed  from 
a  blood-boltered  barbarism,  all  were  to  become  our  in- 
timates, and  one,  at  least,  was  to  mourn  sincerely  our 
departure. 


CHAPTER   II 


MAKING   FRIENDS 


The  impediment  of  tongues  was  one  that  I  particu- 
larly over-estimated.  The  languages  of  Polynesia  are 
easy  to  smatter,  though  hard  to  speak  with  elegance. 
And  they  are  extremely  similar,  so  that  a  person  who 
has  a  tincture  of  one  or  two  may  risk,  not  without  hope, 
an  attempt  upon  the  others. 

And  again,  not  only  is  Polynesian  easy  to  smatter, 
but  interpreters  abound.  Missionaries,  traders,  and 
broken  white  folk  living  on  the  bounty  of  the  natives, 
are  to  be  found  in  almost  every  isle  and  hamlet;  and 
even  where  these  are  unserviceable,  the  natives  them- 
selves have  often  scraped  up  a  little  English,  and  in  the 
French  zone  (though  far  less  commonly)  a  little  French- 
English,  or  an  efficient  pidgin,  what  is  called  to  the 
westward  "  Beach-la-Mar,"  comes  easy  to  the  Polyne- 
sian; it  is  now  taught,  besides,  in  the  schools  of  Hawaii; 
and  from  the  multiplicity  of  British  ships,  and  the  near- 
ness of  the  States  on  the  one  hand  and  the  colonies  on 
the  other,  it  may  be  called,  and  will  almost  certainly  be- 
come, the  tongue  of  the  Pacific.  I  will  instance  a  few 
examples.  I  met  in  Majuro  a  Marshall  Island  boy  who 
spoke  excellent  English;  this  he  had  learned  in  the  Ger- 
man firm  in  Jaluit,  yet  did  not  speak  one  word  of  Ger- 

9 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

man.  I  heard  from  a  gendarme  who  had  taught  school 
in  Rapa-iti  that  while  the  children  had  the  utmost  diffi- 
culty or  reluctance  to  learn  French,  they  picked  up 
English  on  the  wayside,  and  as  if  by  accident.  On  one 
of  the  most  out-of-the-way  atolls  in  the  Carolines,  my 
friend  Mr.  Benjamin  Herd  was  amazed  to  find  the  lads 
playing  cricket  on  the  beach  and  talking  English;  and 
it  was  in  English  that  the  crew  of  the  Janet  Nicoll,  a 
set  of  black  boys  from  different  Melanesian  islands,  com- 
municated with  other  natives  throughout  the  cruise, 
transmitted  orders,  and  sometimes  jested  together  on 
the  fore-hatch.  But  what  struck  me  perhaps  most  of 
all  was  a  word  1  heard  on  the  verandah  of  the  Tribunal 
at  Noumea.  A  case  had  just  been  heard  —  a  trial  for 
infanticide  against  an  ape-like  native  woman ;  and  the 
audience  were  smoking  cigarettes  as  they  awaited  the 
verdict.  An  anxious,  amiable  French  lady,  not  far  from 
tears,  was  eager  for  acquittal,  and  declared  she  would 
engage  the  prisoner  to  be  her  children's  nurse.  The 
bystanders  exclaimed  at  the  proposal;  the  woman  was 
a  savage,  said  they,  and  spoke  no  language.  "Mais, 
voHS  save^/'  objected  the  fair  sentimentalist;  "  ils  ap- 
prennent  si  vite  V  Anglais  !  ' ' 

But  to  be  able  to  speak  to  people  is  not  all.  And  in 
the  first  stage  of  my  relations  with  natives  I  was  helped 
by  two  things.  To  begin  with,  I  was  the  showman  of 
the  Casco.  She,  her  fine  lines,  tall  spars,  and  snowy 
decks,  the  crimson  fittings  of  the  saloon,  and  the  white, 
the  gilt,  and  the  repeating  mirrors  of  the  tiny  cabin, 
brought  us  a  hundred  visitors.  The  men  fothomed  out 
her  dimensions  with  their  arms,  as  their  fathers  fathomed 
out  the  ships  of  Cook;  the  women  declared  the  cabins 


MAKING    FRIENDS 

more  lovely  than  a  church;  bouncing  Junos  were  never 
weary  of  sitting  in  the  chairs  and  contemplating  in  the 
glass  their  own  bland  images;  and  I  have  seen  one  lady 
strip  up  her  dress,  and,  with  cries  of  wonder  and  de- 
light, rub  herself  bare-breeched  upon  the  velvet  cush- 
ions. Biscuit,  jam,  and  syrup  was  the  entertainment; 
and  as  in  European  parlours,  the  photograph  album  went 
the  round.  This  sober  gallery,  their  everyday  costumes 
and  physiognomies,  had  become  transformed,  in  three 
weeks'  sailing,  into  things  wonderful  and  rich  and  for- 
eign; alien  faces,  barbaric  dresses,  they  were  now  be- 
held and  fingered,  in  the  swerving  cabin,  with  innocent 
excitement  and  surprise.  Her  Majesty  was  often  recog- 
nised, and  1  have  seen  French  subjects  kiss  her  photo- 
graph; Captain  Speedy  —  in  an  Abyssinian  war-dress, 
supposed  to  be  the  uniform  of  the  British  army  —  met 
with  much  acceptance;  and  the  effigies  of  Mr.  Andrew 
Lang  were  admired  in  the  Marquesas.  There  is  the 
place  for  him  to  go  when  he  shall  be  weary  of  Middle- 
sex and  Homer. 

It  was  perhaps  yet  more  important  that  I  had  enjoyed 
in  my  youth  some  knowledge  of  our  Scots  folk  of  the 
Highlands  and  the  Islands.  Not  much  beyond  a  cen- 
tury has  passed  since  these  were  in  the  same  convulsive 
and  transitionary  state  as  the  Marquesans  of  to-day.  In 
both  cases  an  alien  authority  enforced,  the  clans  dis- 
armed, the  chiefs  deposed,  new  customs  introduced, 
and  chiefly  that  fashion  of  regarding  money  as  the  means 
and  object  of  existence.  The  commercial  age,  in  each, 
succeeding  at  a  bound  to  an  age  of  war  abroad  and  pa- 
triarchal communism  at  home.  In  one  the  cherished 
practice  of  tattooing,  in  the  other  a  cherished  costume, 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

proscribed.  In  each  a  main  luxury  cut  off:  beef,  driven 
under  cloud  of  night  from  Lowland  pastures,  denied  to 
the  meat-loving  Highlander;  long-pig,  pirated  from  the 
next  village,  to  the  man-eating  Kanaka.  The  grum- 
bling, the  secret  ferment,  the  fears  and  resentments,  the 
alarms  and  sudden  councils  of  Marquesan  chiefs,  re- 
minded me  continually  of  the  days  of  Lovat  and  Struan. 
Hospitality,  tact,  natural  fine  manners,  and  a  touchy 
punctilio,  are  common  to  both  races:  common  to  both 
tongues  the  trick  of  dropping  medial  consonants.  Here 
is  a  table  of  two  wide-spread  Polynesian  words:  — 


House. 

Love.-i- 

Tahitian 

FARE 

aroha 

New  Zealand 

WHARE 

Sanioan 

FALE 

TALOFA 

Manihiki 

FALE 

ALOHA 

Hawaiian 

HALE 

ALOHA 

Marquesan 

ha'e 

KAOHA 

The  elision  of  medial  consonants,  so  marked  in  these 
Marquesan  instances,  is  no  less  common  both  in  Gaelic 
and  the  Lowland  Scots.  Stranger  still,  that  prevalent 
Polynesian  sound,  the  so-called  catch,  written  with  an 
apostrophe,  and  often  or  always  the  gravestone  of  a 
perished  consonant,  is  to  be  heard  in  Scotland  to  this 
day.  When  a  Scot  pronounces  water,  better,  or  bottle 
—  wa'er,  be'er,  or  bo'le  —  the  sound  is  precisely  that  of 
the  catch;  and  I  think  we  may  go  beyond,  and  say, 
that  if  such  a  population  could  be  isolated,  and  this  mis- 
pronunciation should  become  the  rule,  it  might  prove 
the  first  stage  of  transition  from  /  to  k,  which  is  the  dis- 
ease of  Polynesian  languages.  The  tendency  of  the 
1  Where  that  word  is  used  as  a  salutation  I  give  that  form. 


MAKING    FRIENDS 

Marquesans,  however,  is  to  urge  against  consonants,  or 
at  least  on  the  very  common  letter  /,  a  war  of  mere  ex- 
termination. A  hiatus  is  agreeable  to  any  Polynesian 
ear;  the  ear  even  of  the  stranger  soon  grows  used  to 
these  barbaric  voids;  but  only  in  the  Marquesan  will 
you  find  such  names  as  Haaii  and  Paaaeita,  when  each 
individual  vowel  must  be  separately  uttered. 

These  points  of  similarity  between  a  South  Sea  people 
and  some  of  my  own  folk  at  home  ran  much  in  my 
head  in  the  islands;  and  not  only  inclined  me  to  view 
my  fresh  acquaintances  with  favour,  but  continually 
modified  my  judgment.  A  polite  Englishman  comes 
to-day  to  the  Marquesans  and  is  amazed  to  find  the  men 
tattooed;  polite  Italians  came  not  long  ago  to  England 
and  found  our  fathers  stained  with  woad;  and  when  1 
paid  the  return  visit  as  a  little  boy,  1  was  highly  diverted 
with  the  backwardness  of  Italy:  so  insecure,  so  much  a 
matter  of  the  day  and  hour,  is  the  pre-eminence  of  race. 
It  was  so  that  1  hit  upon  a  means  of  communication 
which  1  recommend  to  travelers.  When  I  desired  any 
detail  of  savage  custom,  or  of  superstitious  belief,  I  cast 
back  in  the  story  of  my  fathers,  and  fished  for  what  I 
wanted  with  some  trait  of  equal  barbarism :  Michael 
Scott,  Lord  Derwentwater's  head,  the  second-sight,  the 
Water  Kelpie,  —  each  of  these  I  have  found  to  be  a  kill- 
ing bait;  the  black  bull's  head  of  Stirling  procured  me 
the  legend  of  Rahero;  and  what  1  knew  of  the  Cluny 
Macphersons,  or  the  Appin  Stewarts,  enabled  me  to 
learn,  and  helped  me  to  understand,  about  the  Tevas  of 
Tahiti.  The  native  was  no  longer  ashamed,  his  sense 
of  kinship  grew  warmer,  and  his  lips  were  opened.  It 
is  this  sense  of  kinship  that  the  traveller  must  rouse  and 

'3 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

share;  or  he  had  better  content  himself  with  travels 
from  the  blue  bed  to  the  brown.  And  the  presence  of 
one  Cockney  titterer  will  cause  a  whole  party  to  walk 
in  clouds  of  darkness. 

The  hamlet  of  Anaho  stands  on  a  margin  of  flat  land 
between  the  west  of  the  beach  and  the  spring  of  the 
impending  mountains.  A  grove  of  palms,  perpetually 
ruffling  its  green  fans,  carpets  it  (as  for  a  triumph)  with 
fallen  branches,  and  shades  it  like  an  arbour.  A  road 
runs  from  end  to  end  of  the  covert  among  beds  of 
flowers,  the  milliner's  shop  of  the  community ;  and  here 
and  there,  in  the  grateful  twilight,  in  an  air  filled  with 
a  diversity  of  scents,  and  still  within  hearing  of  the  surf 
upon  the  reef,  the  native  houses  stand  in  scattered 
neighbourhood.  The  same  word,  as  we  have  seen, 
represents  in  many  tongues  of  Polynesia,  with  scarce  a 
shade  of  difference,  the  abode  of  man.  But  although 
the  word  be  the  same,  the  structure  itself  continually 
varies;  and  the  Marquesan,  among  the  most  backward 
and  barbarous  of  islanders,  was  yet  the  most  commo- 
diously  lodged.  The  grass  huts  of  Hawaii,  the  birdcage 
houses  of  Tahiti,  or  the  open  shed,  with  the  crazy 
Venetian  blinds,  of  the  polite  Samoan  —  none  of  these 
can  be  compared  with  the  Marquesan  paepae-hae,  or 
dwelling  platform.  The  paepae  is  an  oblong  terrace 
built  without  cement  of  black  volcanic  stone,  from 
twenty  to  fifty  feet  in  length,  raised  from  four  to  eight 
feet  from  the  earth,  and  accessible  by  a  broad  stair. 
Along  the  back  of  this,  and  coming  to  about  half  its 
width,  runs  the  open  front  of  the  house,  like  a  covered 
gallery:  the  interior  sometimes  neat  and  almost  elegant 
in  its  bareness,  the  sleeping  space  divided  off  by  an  end- 

14 


MAKING   FRIENDS 

long  coaming,  some  bright  raiment  perhaps  hanging 
from  a  nail,  and  a  lamp  and  one  of  White's  sewing- 
machines  the  only  marks  of  civilisation.  On  the  out- 
side, at  one  end  of  the  terrace,  burns  the  cooking-fire 
under  a  shed;  at  the  other  there  is  perhaps  a  pen  for 
pigs ;  the  remainder  is  the  evening  lounge  and  al fresco 
banquet-hall  of  the  inhabitants.  To  some  houses  water 
is  brought  down  the  mountain  in  bamboo  pipes,  per- 
forated for  the  sake  of  sweetness.  With  the  Highland 
comparison  in  my  mind,  I  was  struck  to  remember  the 
sluttish  mounds  of  turf  and  stone  in  which  I  have  sat 
and  been  entertained  in  the  Hebrides  and  the  North 
Islands.  Two  things,  I  suppose,  explain  the  contrast. 
In  Scotland  wood  is  rare,  and  with  materials  so  rude  as 
turf  and  stone  the  very  hope  of  neatness  is  excluded. 
And  in  Scotland  it  is  cold.  Shelter  and  a  hearth  are 
needs  so  pressing  that  a  man  looks  not  beyond;  he  is 
out  all  day  after  a  bare  bellyful,  and  at  night  when  he 
saith,  "  Aha,  it  is  warm!  "  he  has  not  appetite  for  more. 
Or  if  for  something  else,  then  something  higher;  a  fine 
school  of  poetry  and  song  arose  in  these  rough  shelters, 
and  an  air  like  ""  Lochaber  no  more  "  is  an  evidence  of 
refinement  more  convincing,  as  well  as  more  imperish- 
able, than  a  palace. 

To  one  such  dwelling  platform  a  considerable  troop 
of  relatives  and  dependents  resort.  In  the  hour  of  the 
dusk,  when  the  fire  blazes,  and  the  scent  of  the  cooked 
breadfruit  fills  the  air,  and  perhaps  the  lamp  glints  al- 
ready between  the  pillars  of  the  house,  you  shall  behold 
them  silently  assemble  to  this  meal,  men,  women,  and 
children;  and  the  dogs  and  pigs  frisk  together  up  the 
terrace  stairway,  switching  rival  tails.     The  strangers 

'5 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

from  the  ship  were  soon  equally  welcome:  welcome  to 
dip  their  fingers  in  the  wooden  dish,  to  drink  cocoa- 
nuts,  to  share  the  circulating  pipe,  and  to  hear  and  hold 
high  debate  about  the  misdeeds  of  the  French,  the  Pan- 
ama Canal,  or  the  geographical  position  of  San  Francisco 
and  New  Yo'ko.  In  a  Highland  hamlet,  quite  out  of 
reach  of  any  tourist,  1  have  met  the  same  plain  and  dig- 
nified hospitality. 

1  have  mentioned  two  focts — the  distasteful  behaviour 
of  our  earliest  visitors,  and  the  case  of  the  lady  who 
rubbed  herself  upon  the  cushions — which  would  give 
a  very  false  opinion  of  Marquesan  manners.  The  great 
majority  of  Polynesians  are  excellently  mannered ;  but  the 
Marquesan  stands  apart,  annoying  and  attractive,  wild, 
shy,  and  refined.  If  you  make  him  a  present  he  affects 
to  forget  it,  and  it  must  be  offered  him  again  at  his  go- 
ing: a  pretty  formality  I  have  found  nowhere  else.  A 
hint  will  get  rid  of  any  one  or  any  number;  they  are  so 
fiercely  proud  and  modest;  while  many  of  the  more 
lovable  but  blunter  islanders  crowd  upon  a  stranger, 
and  can  be  no  more  driven  off  than  flies.  A  slight  or 
an  insult  the  Marquesan  seems  never  to  forget.  I  was 
one  day  talking  by  the  wayside  with  my  friend  Hoka, 
when  I  perceived  his  eyes  suddenly  to  flash  and  his 
stature  to  swell.  A  white  horseman  was  coming  down 
the  mountain,  and  as  he  passed,  and  while  he  paused 
to  exchange  salutations  with  myself,  Hoka  was  still 
staring  and  ruffling  like  a  gamecock.  It  was  a  Corsican 
who  had  years  before  called  him  cochin  sauvage — cocon 
chaiivage,  as  Hoka  mispronounced  it.  With  people  so 
nice  and  so  touchy,  it  was  scarce  to  be  supposed  that  our 
company  of  greenhorns  should  not  blunder  into  offences. 

i6 


MAKING    FRIENDS 

Hoka,  on  one  of  his  visits,  fell  suddenly  in  a  brooding 
silence,  and  presently  after  left  the  ship  with  cold  for- 
mality. When  he  took  me  back  into  favour,  he  adroitly 
and  pointedly  explained  the  nature  of  my  offence:  I  had 
asked  him  to  sell  cocoa-nuts;  and  in  Hoka's  view  arti- 
cles of  food  were  things  that  a  gentleman  should  give, 
not  sell;  or  at  least  that  he  should  not  sell  to  any  friend. 
On  another  occasion  I  gave  my  boat's  crew  a  luncheon 
of  chocolate  and  biscuits.  I  had  sinned,  I  could  never 
learn  how,  against  some  point  of  observance;  and 
though  I  was  drily  thanked,  my  offerings  were  left  upon 
the  beach.  But  our  worst  mistake  was  a  slight  we  put 
on  Toma,  Hoka's  adopted  father,  and  in  his  own  eyes 
the  rightful  chief  of  Anaho.  In  the  first  place,  we  did 
not  call  upon  him,  as  perhaps  we  should,  in  his  fine 
new  European  house,  the  only  one  in  the  hamlet.  In 
the  second,  when  we  came  ashore  upon  a  visit  to  his 
rival,  Taipi-kikino,  it  was  Toma  whom  we  saw  stand- 
ing at  the  head  of  the  beach,  a  magnificent  figure  of  a 
man,  magnificently  tattooed;  and  it  was  of  Toma  that 
we  asked  our  question:  "Where  is  the  chief.?"  "What 
chief?"  cried  Toma,  and  turned  his  back  on  the  blas- 
phemers. Nor  did  he  forgive  us.  Hoka  came  and 
went  with  us  daily;  but,  alone  I  believe  of  all  the  coun- 
tryside, neither  Toma  nor  his  wife  set  foot  on  board  the 
Casco.  The  temptation  resisted  it  is  hard  for  a  European 
to  compute.  The  flying  city  of  Laputa  moored  for  a 
fortnight  in  St.  James's  Park  affords  but  a  pale  figure  of 
the  Casco  anchored  before  Anaho;  for  the  Londoner  has 
still  his  change  of  pleasures,  but  the  Marquesan  passes 
to  his  grave  through  an  unbroken  uniformity  of  days. 
On  the  afternoon  before  it  was  intended  we  should 

'7 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

sail,  a  valedictory  party  came  on  board:  nine  of  our 
particular  friends  equipped  with  gifts  and  dressed  as 
for  a  festival.  Hoka,  the  chief  dancer  and  singer,  the 
greatest  dandy  of  Anaho,  and  one  of  the  handsomest 
young  fellows  in  the  world  —  sullen,  showy,  dramatic, 
light  as  a  feather  and  strong  as  an  ox  —  it  would  have 
been  hard,  on  that  occasion,  to  recognize,  as  he  sat  there 
stooped  and  silent,  his  face  heavy  and  grey.  It  was 
strange  to  see  the  lad  so  much  affected;  stranger  still  to 
recognise  in  his  last  gift  one  of  the  curios  we  had  re- 
fused on  the  first  day,  and  to  know  our  friend,  so  gaily 
dressed,  so  plainly  moved  at  our  departure,  for  one  of 
the  half-naked  crew  that  had  besieged  and  insulted  us 
on  our  arrival:  strangest  of  all,  perhaps,  to  find,  in  that 
carved  handle  of  a  fan,  the  last  of  those  curiosities  of 
the  first  day  which  had  now  all  been  given  to  us  by 
their  possessors  —  their  chief  merchandise,  for  which 
they  had  sought  to  ransom  us  as  long  as  we  were  stran- 
gers, which  they  pressed  on  us  for  nothing  as  soon  as  we 
were  friends.  The  last  visit  was  not  long  protracted. 
One  after  another  they  shook  hands  and  got  down  into 
their  canoe;  when  Hoka  turned  his  back  immediately 
upon  the  ship,  so  that  we  saw  his  face  no  more.  Taipi, 
on  the  other  hand,  remained  standing  and  facing  us 
with  gracious  valedictory  gestures;  and  when  Captain 
Otis  dipped  the  ensign,  the  whole  party  saluted  with 
their  hats.  This  was  the  farewell;  the  episode  of  our 
visit  to  Anaho  was  held  concluded;  and  though  the 
Casco  remained  nearly  forty  hours  at  her  moorings,  not 
one  returned  on  board,  and  1  am  inclined  to  think  they 
avoided  appearing  on  the  beach.  This  reserve  and  dig- 
nity is  the  finest  trait  of  the  Marquesan. 


CHAPTER   III 


THE   MAROON 


Of  the  beauties  of  Anaho  books  might  be  written.  I 
remember  waking  about  three,  to  find  the  air  temperate 
and  scented.  The  long  swell  brimmed  into  the  bay, 
and  seemed  to  fill  it  full  and  then  subside.  Gently, 
deeply,  and  silently  the  Casco  rolled;  only  at  times  a 
block  piped  like  a  bird.  Oceanward,  the  heaven  was 
bright  with  stars  and  the  sea  with  their  reflections.  If 
I  looked  to  that  side,  I  might  have  sung  with  the  Ha- 
waiian poet: 

Ua  maomao  ka  lani,  ua  kabaea  luiia, 
Ua  pipi  ka  maka  o  ka  hoku. 
(The  heavens  were  fair,  they  stretched  above, 
Many  were  the  eyes  of  the  stars.) 

And  then  I  turned  shoreward,  and  high  squalls  were 
overhead;  the  mountains  loomed  up  black;  and  I  could 
have  fancied  I  had  slipped  ten  thousand  miles  away  and 
was  anchored  in  a  Highland  loch;  that  when  the  day 
came,  it  would  show  pine,  and  heather,  and  green  fern, 
and  roofs  of  turf  sending  up  the  smoke  of  peats;  and 
the  alien  speech  that  should  next  greet  my  ears  must  be 
Gaelic,  not  Kanaka. 

«9 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

And  day,  when  it  came,  brought  other  sights  and 
thoughts.  I  have  watched  the  morning  break  in  many 
quarters  of  the  world;  it  has  been  certainly  one  of  the 
chief  joys  of  my  existence,  and  the  dawn  that  1  saw 
with  most  emotion  shone  upon  the  bay  of  Anaho.  The 
mountains  abruptly  overhang  the  port  with  every  va- 
riety of  surfoce  and  of  inclination,  lawn,  and  cliff,  and 
forest.  Not  one  of  these  but  wore  its  proper  tint  of 
saffron,  of  sulphur,  of  the  clove,  and  of  the  rose.  The 
lustre  was  like  that  of  satin;  on  the  lighter  hues  there 
seemed  to  float  an  efflorescence;  a  solemn  bloom  ap- 
peared on  the  more  dark.  The  light  itself  was  the  or- 
dinary light  of  morning,  colourless  and  clean;  and  on 
this  ground  of  jewels,  pencilled  out  the  least  detail  of 
drawing.  Meanwhile,  around  the  hamlet,  under  the 
palms,  where  the  blue  shadow  lingered,  the  red  coals 
of  cocoa  husk  and  the  light  trails  of  smoke  betrayed  the 
awakening  business  of  the  day;  along  the  beach  men 
and  women,  lads  and  lasses,  were  returning  from  the 
bath  in  bright  raiment,  red  and  blue  and  green,  such  as 
we  delighted  to  see  in  the  coloured  little  pictures  of  our 
childhood ;  and  presently  the  sun  had  cleared  the  eastern 
hill,  and  the  glow  of  the  day  was  over  all. 

The  glow  continued  and  increased,  the  business, 
from  the  main  part,  ceased  before  it  had  begun.  Twice 
in  the  day  there  was  a  certain  stir  of  shepherding  along 
the  seaward  hills.  At  times  a  canoe  went  out  to  fish. 
At  times  a  woman  or  two  languidly  filled  a  basket  in 
the  cotton  patch.  At  times  a  pipe  would  sound  out  of 
the  shadow  of  a  house,  ringing  the  changes  on  its  three 
notes,  with  an  effect  like  Ojie  le  jour  me  dure  repeated 
endlessly.     Or  at  times,  across  a  corner  of  the  bay,  two 

20 


THE   MAROON 

natives  might  communicate  in  tiie  Marquesan  manner 
witii  conventional  whistlings.  All  else  was  sleep  and 
silence.  The  surf  broke  and  shone  around  the  shores; 
a  species  of  black  crane  fished  in  the  broken  water;  the 
black  pigs  were  continually  galloping  by  on  some 
affair;  but  the  people  might  never  have  awaked,  or 
they  might  all  be  dead. 

My  favourite  haunt  was  opposite  the  hamlet,  where 
was  a  landing  in  a  cove  under  a  lianaed  cliff.  The 
beach  was  lined  with  palms  and  a  tree  called  the  purao, 
something  between  the  fig  and  mulberry  in  growth, 
and  bearing  a  flower  like  a  great  yellow  poppy  with  a 
maroon  heart.  In  places  rocks  encroached  upon  the 
sand;  the  beach  would  be  all  submerged;  and  the  surf 
would  bubble  warmly  as  high  as  to  my  knees,  and 
play  with  cocoa-nut  husks  as  our  more  homely  ocean 
plays  with  wreck  and  wrack  and  bottles.  As  the  reflux 
drew  down,  marvels  of  colour  and  design  streamed  be- 
tween my  feet;  which  1  would  grasp  at,  miss,  or  seize: 
now  to  find  them  what  they  promised,  shells  to  grace  a 
cabinet  or  be  set  in  gold  upon  a  lady's  finger;  now  to 
catch  only  maya  of  coloured  sand,  pounded  fragments 
and  pebbles,  that,  as  soon  as  they  were  dry,  became  as 
dull  and  homely  as  the  flints  upon  a  garden  path.  1 
have  toiled  at  this  childish  pleasure  for  hours  in  the 
strong  sun,  conscious  of  my  incurable  ignorance;  but 
too  keenly  pleased  to  be  ashamed.  Meanwhile,  the 
blackbird  (or  his  tropical  understudy)  would  be  fluting 
in  the  thickets  overhead. 

A  little  further,  in  the  turn  of  the  bay,  a  streamlet 
trickled  in  the  bottom  of  a  den,  thence  spilling  down  a 
stair  of  rock  into  the  sea.     The  draught  of  air  drew 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

down  under  the  foliage  in  tiie  very  bottom  of  the  den, 
which  was  a  perfect  arbour  for  coolness.  In  front  it 
stood  open  on  the  blue  bay  and  the  Casco  lying  there 
under  her  awning  and  her  cheerful  colours.  Overhead 
was  a  thatch  of  puraos,  and  over  these  again  palms 
brandished  their  bright  fans,  as  I  have  seen  a  conjurer 
make  himself  a  halo  out  of  naked  swords.  For  in  this 
spot,  over  a  neck  of  low  land  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tains, the  trade-wind  streams  into  Anaho  Bay  in  a  flood 
of  almost  constant  volume  and  velocity,  and  of  a  hea- 
venly coolness. 

It  chanced  one  day  that  I  was  ashore  in  the  cove 
with  Mrs.  Stevenson  and  the  ship's  cook.  Except  for 
the  Casco  lying  outside,  and  a  crane  or  two,  and  the 
ever-busy  wind  and  sea,  the  face  of  the  world  was  of  a 
prehistoric  emptiness;  life  appeared  to  stand  stockstill, 
and  the  sense  of  isolation  was  profound  and  refreshing. 
On  a  sudden,  the  trade-wind,  coming  in  a  gust  over 
the  isthmus,  struck  and  scattered  the  fans  of  the  palms 
above  the  den;  and,  behold!  in  two  of  the  tops  there 
sat  a  native,  motionless  as  an  idol  and  watching  us, 
you  would  have  said,  without  a  wink.  The  next  mo- 
ment the  tree  closed,  and  the  glimpse  was  gone.  This 
discovery  of  human  presences  latent  overhead  in  a 
place  where  we  had  supposed  ourselves  alone,  the  im- 
mobility of  our  tree-top  spies,  and  the  thought  that 
perhaps  at  all  hours  we  were  similarly  supervised, 
struck  us  with  a  chill.  Talk  languished  on  the  beach. 
As  for  the  cook  (whose  conscience  was  not  clear),  he 
never  afterwards  set  foot  on  shore,  and  twice,  when 
the  Casco  appeared  to  be  driving  on  the  rocks,  it  was 
amusing  to  observe  that  man's  alacrity;  death,  he  was 


THE   MAROON 

persuaded,  awaiting  him  upon  the  beach.  It  was  more 
than  a  year  later,  in  the  Gilberts,  that  the  explanation 
dawned  upon  myself.  The  natives  were  drawing  palm- 
tree  wine,  a  thing  forbidden  by  law;  and  when  the 
wind  thus  suddenly  revealed  them,  they  were  doubt- 
less more  troubled  than  ourselves. 

At  the  top  of  the  den  there  dwelt  an  old,  melancholy, 
grizzled  man  of  the  name  of  Tari  (Charlie)  Coffm.  He 
was  a  native  of  Oahu,  in  the  Sandwich  Islands;  and  had 
gone  to  sea  in  his  youth  in  the  American  whalers;  a 
circumstance  to  which  he  owed  his  name,  his  English, 
his  down-east  twang,  and  the  misfortune  of  his  inno- 
cent life.  For  one  captain,  sailing  out  of  New  Bedford, 
carried  him  to  Nuka-hiva  and  marooned  him  there 
among  the  cannibals.  The  motive  for  this  act  was  in- 
conceivably small;  poor  Tari's  wages,  which  were  thus 
economised,  would  scarce  have  shook  the  credit  of  the 
New  Bedford  owners.  And  the  act  itself  was  simply 
murder.  Tari's  life  must  have  hung  in  the  beginning 
by  a  hair.  In  the  grief  and  terror  of  that  time,  it  is  not 
unlikely  he  went  mad,  an  infirmity  to  which  he  was 
still  liable;  or  perhaps  a  child  may  have  taken  a  fancy 
to  him  and  ordained  him  to  be  spared.  He  escaped  at 
least  alive,  married  in  the  island,  and  when  1  knew  him 
was  a  widower  with  a  married  son  and  a  grand- 
daughter. But  the  thought  of  Oahu  haunted  him ;  its 
praise  was  for  ever  on  his  lips;  he  beheld  it,  looking 
back,  as  a  place  of  ceaseless  feasting,  song,  and  dance; 
and  in  his  dreams  1  daresay  he  revisits  it  with  joy.  I 
wonder  what  he  would  think  if  he  could  be  carried 
there  indeed,  and  see  the  modern  town  of  Honolulu 
brisk  with  traffic,  and  the  palace  with  its  guards,  and 

23 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

the  great  hotel,  and  Mr.  Berger's  band  with  their  uni- 
forms and  outlandish  instruments;  or  what  he  would 
think  to  see  the  brown  faces  grown  so  few  and  the 
white  so  many;  and  his  father's  land  sold  for  planting 
sugar,  and  his  father's  house  quite  perished,  or  perhaps 
the  last  of  them  struck  leprous  and  immured  between 
the  surf  and  the  cliffs  on  Molokai.  So  simply,  even  in 
South  Sea  Islands,  and  so  sadly,  the  changes  come. 

Tari  was  poor,  and  poorly  lodged.  His  house  was  a 
wooden  frame,  run  up  by  Europeans;  it  was  indeed  his 
official  residence,  for  Tari  was  the  shepherd  of  the  pro- 
montory sheep.  I  can  give  a  perfect  inventory  of  its 
contents:  three  kegs,  a  tin  biscuit-box,  an  iron  sauce- 
pan, several  cocoa-shell  cups,  a  lantern,  and  three  bot- 
tles, probably  containing  oil;  while  the  clothes  of  the 
family  and  a  few  mats  were  thrown  across  the  open 
rafters.  Upon  my  first  meeting  with  this  exile  he  had 
conceived  for  me  one  of  the  baseless  island  friendships, 
had  given  me  nuts  to  drink,  and  carried  me  up  the  den 
"  to  see  my  house  " — the  only  entertainment  that  he  had 
to  offer.  He  liked  the  "  Amelican,"  he  said,  and  the 
"  Inglisman,"  but  the  "  Flessman  "  was  his  abhorrence; 
and  he  was  careful  to  explain  that  if  he  had  thought  us 
"  Fless,"  we  should  have  had  none  of  his  nuts,  and  never 
a  sight  of  his  house.  His  distaste  for  the  French  I  can 
partly  understand,  but  not  at  all  his  toleration  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon.  The  next  day  he  brought  me  a  pig,  and 
some  days  later  one  of  our  party  going  ashore  found 
him  in  act  to  bring  a  second.  We  were  still  strange  to 
the  islands;  we  were  pained  by  the  poor  man's  gener- 
osity, which  he  could  ill  afford;  and  by  a  natural 
enough  but  quite  unpardonable  blunder,  we  refused  the 

24 


THE   MAROON 

pig.  Had  Tari  been  a  Marquesan  we  should  have  seen 
him  no  more;  being  what  he  was,  the  most  mild,  long- 
suffering,  melancholy  man,  he  took  a  revenge  a  hundred 
times  more  painful.  Scarce  had  the  canoe  with  the  nine 
villagers  put  off  from  their  fiirewell  before  the  Casco  was 
boarded  from  the  other  side.  It  was  Tari;  coming  thus 
late  because  he  had  no  canoe  of  his  own,  and  had  found 
it  hard  to  borrow  one;  coming  thus  solitary  (as  indeed 
we  always  saw  him),  because  he  was  a  stranger  in  the 
land,  and  the  dreariest  of  company.  The  rest  of  my 
family  basely  fled  from  the  encounter.  I  must  receive 
our  injured  friend  alone;  and  the  interview  must  have 
lasted  hard  upon  an  hour,  for  he  was  loath  to  tear  him- 
self away.  "  You  go  'way.  I  see  you  no  more  —  no, 
sir!"  he  lamented;  and  then  looking  about  him  with 
rueful  admiration,  "This  goodee  ship!  —  no,  sir!  — 
goodee  ship!"  he  would  exclaim:  the  "no,  sir," 
thrown  out  sharply  through  the  nose  upon  a  rising  in- 
flection, an  echo  from  New  Bedford  and  the  fallacious 
whaler.  From  these  expressions  of  grief  and  praise, 
he  would  return  continually  to  the  case  of  the  rejected 
pig.  "  I  like  give  plesent  all  the  same  you,"  he  com- 
plained; "only  got  pig:  you  no  take  him!"  he  was  a 
poor  man;  he  had  no  choice  of  gifts;  he  had  only  a  pig, 
he  repeated;  and  I  had  refused  it.  I  have  rarely  been 
more  wretched  than  to  see  him  sitting  there,  so  old,  so 
grey,  so  poor,  so  hardly  fortuned,  of  so  rueful  a  counte- 
nance, and  to  appreciate,  with  growing  keenness,  the 
affront  which  1  had  so  innocently  dealt  him;  but  it  was 
one  of  those  cases  in  which  speech  is  vain. 

Tari's  son  was  smiling  and  inert;  his  daughter-in- 
law,  a  girl  of  sixteen,  pretty,  gentle,  and  grave,  more 

25 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

intelligent  than  most  Anaho  women,  and  with  a  fair 
share  of  French;  his  grandchild,  a  mite  of  a  creature  at 
the  breast.  I  went  up  the  den  one  day  when  Tari  was 
from  home,  and  found  the  son  making  a  cotton  sack, 
and  madame  suckling  mademoiselle.  When  1  had  sat 
down  with  them  on  the  floor,  the  girl  began  to  ques- 
tion me  about  England;  which  I  tried  to  describe, 
piling  the  pan  and  the  cocoa  shells  one  upon  another 
to  represent  the  houses,  and  explaining,  as  best  I  was 
able,  and  by  word  and  gesture,  the  over-population, 
the  hunger,  and  the  perpetual  toil.  ''Pas  de  cocotiers? 
pas  de popoi?''  she  asked.  1  told  her  it  was  too  cold, 
and  went  through  an  elaborate  performance,  shutting 
out  draughts,  and  crouching  over  an  imaginary  fire, 
to  make  sure  she  understood.  But  she  understood 
right  well;  remarked  it  must  be  bad  for  the  health, 
and  sat  a  while  gravely  reflecting  on  that  picture  of  un- 
wonted sorrows.  I  am  sure  it  roused  her  pity,  for  it 
struck  in  her  another  thought  always  uppermost  in  the 
Marquesan  bosom ;  and  she  began  with  a  smiling  sad- 
ness, and  looking  on  me  out  of  melancholy  eyes,  to 
lament  the  decease  of  her  own  people.  ''  lei  pas  de 
Kanaques,"  said  she;  and  taking  the  baby  from  her 
breast,  she  held  it  out  to  me  with  both  her  hands. 
"  Tenei — a  little  baby  like  this;  then  dead.  All  the 
Kanaques  die.  Then  no  more."  The  smile,  and  this 
instancing  by  the  girl-mother  of  her  own  tiny  flesh  and 
blood,  affected  me  strangely ;  they  spoke  of  so  tranquil 
a  despair.  Meanwhile  the  husband  smilingly  made  his 
sack;  and  the  unconscious  babe  struggled  to  reach  a 
pot  of  raspberry  jam,  friendship's  offering,  which  I  had 
just  brought  up  the  den ;  and  in  a  perspective  of  cen- 

26 


THE   MAROON 

turies  I  saw  their  case  as  ours,  death  coming  in  like  a 
tide,  and  the  day  already  numbered  when  there  should 
be  no  more  Beretani,  and  no  more  of  any  race  what- 
ever, and  (what  oddly  touched  me)  no  more  literary 
works  and  no  more  readers. 


27 


CHAPTER  IV 


DEATH 


The  thought  of  death,  I  have  said,  is  uppermost  in 
the  mind  of  the  Marquesan.  It  would  be  strange  if  it 
were  otherwise.  The  race  is  perhaps  the  handsomest 
extant.  Six  feet  is  about  the  middle  height  of  males; 
they  are  strongly  muscled,  free  from  fot,  swift  in  action, 
graceful  in  repose;  and  the  women,  though  fatter  and 
duller,  are  still  comely  animals.  To  judge  by  the  eye, 
there  is  no  race  more  viable;  and  yet  death  reaps  them 
with  both  hands.  When  Bishop  Dordillon  first  came 
to  Tai-o-hae,  he  reckoned  the  inhabitants  at  many 
thousands;  he  was  but  newly  dead,  and  in  the  same 
bay  Stanislao  Moanatini  counted  on  his  fingers  eight 
residual  natives.  Or  take  the  valley  of  Hapaa,  known 
to  readers  of  Herman  Melville  under  the  grotesque 
misspelling  of  Hapar.  There  are  but  two  writers  who 
have  touched  the  South  Seas  with  any  genius,  both 
Americans:  Melville  and  Charles  Warren  Stoddard;  and 
at  the  christening  of  the  first  and  greatest,  some  influ- 
ential fairy  must  have  been  neglected:  "He  shall  be 
able  to  see,"  "He  shall  be  able  to  tell,"  "He  shall  be 
able  to  charm,"  said  the  friendly  godmothers;  "But  he 
shall  not  be  able  to  hear,"  exclaimed  the  last.  The 
tribe  of  Hapaa  is  said  to  have  numbered  some  four  hun- 

28 


DEATH 

dred,  when  the  small-pox  came  and  reduced  them  by 
one-fourth.  Six  months  later  a  woman  developed  tu- 
bercular consumption;  the  disease  spread  like  a  fire 
about  the  valley,  and  in  less  than  a  year  two  survivors, 
a  man  and  a  woman,  fled  from  that  new-created  soli- 
tude. A  similar  Adam  and  Eve  may  some  day  wither 
among  new  races,  the  tragic  residue  of  Britain.  When 
1  first  heard  this  story  the  date  staggered  me;  but  1  am 
now  inclined  to  think  it  possible.  Early  in  the  year  of 
my  visit,  for  example,  or  late  the  year  before,  a  first 
case  of  phthisis  appeared  in  a  household  of  seventeen 
persons,  and  by  the  month  of  August,  when  the  tale 
was  told  me,  one  soul  survived,  and  that  was  a  boy 
who  had  been  absent  at  his  schooling.  And  depopu- 
lation works  both  ways,  the  doors  of  death  being  set 
wide  open,  and  the  door  of  birth  almost  closed.  Thus, 
in  the  half-year  ending  July  1888  there  were  twelve 
deaths  and  but  one  birth  in  the  district  of  the  Hatiheu. 
Seven  or  eight  more  deaths  were  to  be  looked  for  in 
the  ordinary  course;  and  M.  Aussel,  the  observant  gen- 
darme, knew  of  but  one  likely  birth.  At  this  rate  it  is 
no  matter  of  surprise  if  the  population  in  that  part 
should  have  declined  in  forty  years  from  six  thousand 
to  less  than  four  hundred;  which  are,  once  more  on  the 
authority  of  M.  Aussel,  the  estimated  figures.  And  the 
rate  of  decline  must  have  even  accelerated  towards 
the  end. 

A  good  way  to  appreciate  the  depopulation  is  to  go 
by  land  from  Anaho  to  Hatiheu  on  the  adjacent  bay. 
The  road  is  good  travelling,  but  cruelly  steep.  We 
seemed  scarce  to  have  passed  the  deserted  house  which 
stands  highest  in  Anaho  before  we  were  looking  dizzily 

29 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

down  upon  its  roof;  the  Casco  well  out  in  the  bay,  and 
rolling  for  a  wager,  shrank  visibly;  and  presently 
through  the  gap  of  Tari's  isthmus,  Ua-huna  was  seen 
to  hang  cloudlike  on  the  horizon.  Over  the  summit, 
where  the  wind  blev/  really  chill,  and  whistled  in  the 
reed-like  grass,  and  tossed  the  grassy  fell  of  the  pan- 
danus,  we  stepped  suddenly,  as  through  a  door,  into 
the  next  vale  and  bay  of  Hatiheu,  A  bowl  of  moun- 
tains encloses  it  upon  three  sides.  On  the  fourth  this 
rampart  has  been  bombarded  into  ruins,  runs  down  to 
seaward  in  imminent  and  shattered  crags,  and  presents 
the  one  practicable  breach  of  the  blue  bay.  The  in- 
terior of  this  vessel  is  crowded  with  lovely  and  valuable 
trees, — orange,  breadfruit,  mummy-apple,  cocoa,  the 
island  chestnut,  and  for  weeds,  the  pine  and  the  banana. 
Four  perennial  streams  water  and  keep  it  green ;  and 
along  the  dell,  first  of  one,  then  of  another,  of  these, 
the  road,  for  a  considerable  distance,  descends  into  this 
fortunate  valley.  The  song  of  the  waters  and  the  fa- 
miliar disarray  of  boulders  gave  us  a  strong  sense  of 
home,  which  the  exotic  foliage,  the  daft-like  growth  of 
the  pandanus,  the  buttressed  trunk  of  the  banyan,  the 
black  pigs  galloping  in  the  bush,  and  the  architecture 
of  the  native  houses  dissipated  ere  it  could  be  enjoyed. 
The  houses  on  the  Hatiheu  side  begin  high  up;  higher 
yet,  the  more  melancholy  spectacle  of  empty  paepaes. 
When  a  native  habitation  is  deserted,  the  superstructure 
—  pandanus  thatch,  wattle,  unstable  tropical  timber  — 
speedily  rots,  and  is  speedily  scattered  by  the  wind. 
Only  the  stones  of  the  terrace  endure;  nor  can  any  ruin, 
cairn,  or  standing  stone,  or  vitrified  fort  present  a  more 
stern  appearance  of  antiquity.     We  must  have  passed 

3t^ 


DEATH 

from  six  to  eight  of  these  now  houseless  platforms. 
On  the  main  road  of  the  island,  where  it  crosses  the 
valley  of  Taipi,  Mr.  Osbourne  tells  me  they  are  to  be 
reckoned  by  the  dozen;  and  as  the  roads  have  been 
made  long  posterior  to  their  erection,  perhaps  to  their 
desertion,  and  must  simply  be  regarded  as  lines  drawn 
at  random  through  the  bush,  the  forest  on  either  hand 
must  be  equally  filled  with  these  survivals:  the  grave- 
stones of  whole  families.  Such  ruins  are  tapu  in  the 
strictest  sense;  no  native  must  approach  them;  they 
have  become  outposts  of  the  kingdom  of  the  grave.  It 
might  appear  a  natural  and  pious  custom  in  the  hun- 
dreds who  are  left,  the  rearguard  of  perished  thousands, 
that  their  feet  should  leave  untrod  these  hearthstones  of 
their  fathers.  I  believe,  in  fact,  the  custom  rests  on 
different  and  more  grim  conceptions.  But  the  house, 
the  grave,  and  even  the  body  of  the  dead,  have  been  al- 
ways particularly  honoured  by  Marquesans.  Until  re- 
cently the  corpse  was  sometimes  kept  in  the  family  and 
daily  oiled  and  sunned,  until,  by  gradual  and  revolting 
stages,  it  dried  into  a  kind  of  mummy.  Offerings  are 
still  laid  upon  the  grave.  In  Traitor's  Bay,  Mr.  Os- 
bourne saw  a  man  buy  a  looking-glass  to  lay  upon  his 
son's.  And  the  sentiment  against  the  desecration  of 
tombs,  thoughtlessly  ruffled  in  the  laying  down  of  the 
new  roads,  is  a  chief  ingredient  in  the  native  hatred  for 
the  French. 

The  Marquesan  beholds  with  dismay  the  approaching 
extinction  of  his  race.  The  thought  of  death  sits  down 
with  him  to  meat,  and  rises  with  him  from  his  bed ;  he 
lives  and  breathes  under  a  shadow  of  mortality  awful 
to  support;  and  he  is  so  inured  to  the  apprehension  that 

31 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

he  greets  the  reality  with  relief.  He  does  not  even 
seek  to  support  a  disappointment;  at  an  affront,  at  a 
breach  of  one  of  his  fleeting  and  communistic  love  af- 
fairs, he  seeks  an  instant  refuge  in  the  grave.  Hanging 
is  now  the  fashion.  I  heard  of  three  who  had  hanged 
themselves  in  the  west  end  of  Hiva-oa  during  the  first 
half  of  1888;  but  though  this  be  a  common  form  of  sui- 
cide in  other  parts  of  the  South  Seas,  I  cannot  think  it 
will  continue  popular  in  the  Marquesas.  Far  more 
suitable  to  Marquesan  sentiment  is  the  old  form  of  poi- 
soning with  the  fruit  of  the  eva,  which  offers  to  the 
native  suicide  a  cruel  but  deliberate  death,  and  gives 
time  for  those  decencies  of  the  last  hour,  to  which  he  at- 
taches such  remarkable  importance.  The  coffm  can 
thus  be  at  hand,  the  pigs  killed,  the  cry  of  the  mourners 
sounding  already  through  the  house;  and  then  it  is,  and 
not  before,  that  the  Marquesan  is  conscious  of  achieve- 
ment, his  life  all  rounded  in,  his  robes  (like  Caesar's)  ad- 
justed for  the  final  act.  Praise  not  any  man  till  he  is  dead, 
said  the  ancients;  envy  not  any  man  till  you  hear  the 
mourners,  might  be  the  Marquesan  parody.  The  cof- 
fin, though  of  late  introduction,  strangely  engages  their 
attention.  It  is  to  the  mature  Marquesan  what  a  watch 
is  to  the  European  schoolboy.  For  ten  years  Queen 
Vaekehu  had  dunned  the  fathers;  at  last,  but  the  other 
day,  they  let  her  have  her  will,  gave  her  her  coffin,  and 
the  woman's  soul  is  at  rest.  I  was  told  a  droll  instance 
of  the  force  of  this  preoccupation.  The  Polynesians  are 
subject  to  a  disease  seemingly  rather  of  the  will  than  of 
the  body.  I  was  told  the  Tahitians  have  a  word  for  it, 
erimatua,  but  cannot  find  it  in  my  dictionary.  A  gen- 
darme, M.  Nouveau,  has  seen  men  beginning  to  suc- 

32 


DEATH 

cumb  to  this  insubstantial  malady,  has  routed  them 
from  their  houses,  turned  them  on  to  do  their  trick  upon 
the  roads,  and  in  two  days  has  seen  them  cured.  But 
this  other  remedy  is  more  original:  a  Marquesan,  dying 
of  this  discouragement — perhaps  I  should  rather  say 
this  acquiescence  —  has  been  known,  at  the  fulfilment 
of  his  crowning  wish,  on  the  mere  sight  of  that  desired 
hermitage,  his  coffin  —  to  revive,  recover,  shake  off  the 
hand  of  death,  and  be  restored  for  years  to  his  occupa- 
tions —  carving  tikis  (idols),  let  us  say,  or  braiding  old 
men's  beards.  From  all  this  it  may  be  conceived  how 
easily  they  meet  death  when  it  approaches  naturally.  I 
heard  one  example,  grim  and  picturesque.  In  the  time 
of  the  small-pox  in  Hapaa,  an  old  man  was  seized  with 
the  disease;  he  had  no  thought  of  recovery;  had  his 
grave  dug  by  a  wayside,  and  lived  in  it  for  near  a  fort- 
night, eating,  drinking,  and  smoking  with  the  passers- 
by, talking  mostly  of  his  end,  and  equally  unconcerned  for 
himself  and  careless  of  the  friends  whom  he  infected. 

This  proneness  to  suicide,  and  loose  seat  in  life,  is 
not  peculiar  to  the  Marquesan.  What  is  peculiar  is  the 
wide-spread  depression  and  acceptance  of  the  national 
end.  Pleasures  are  neglected,  the  dance  languishes, 
the  songs  are  forgotten.  It  is  true  that  some,  and  per- 
haps too  many,  of  them  are  proscribed;  but  many  re- 
main, if. there  were  spirit  to  support  or  to  revive  them. 
At  the  last  feast  of  the  Bastille,  Stanislao  Moanatini  shed 
tears  when  he  beheld  the  inanimate  performance  of  the 
dancers.  When  the  people  sang  for  us  in  Anaho,  they 
must  apologise  for  the  smallness  of  their  repertory. 
They  were  only  young  folk  present,  they  said,  and  it 
was  only  the  old  that  knew  the  songs.     The  whole 

33 


THE   SOUTH    SBAS 

body  of  Marquesan  poetry  and  music  was  being  suf- 
fered to  die  out  with  a  single  dispirited  generation. 
The  full  import  is  apparent  only  to  one  acquainted  with 
other  Polynesian  races;  who  knows  how  the  Samoan 
coins  a  fresh  song  for  every  trifling  incident,  or  who  has 
heard  (on  Penrhyn,  for  instance)  a  band  of  little  strip- 
ling maids  from  eight  to  twelve  keep  up  their  minstrelsy 
for  hours  upon  a  stretch,  one  song  following  another 
without  pause.  In  like  manner,  the  Marquesan,  never 
industrious,  begins  now  to  cease  altogether  from  pro- 
duction. The  exports  of  the  group  decline  out  of  all 
proportion  even  with  the  death-rate  of  the  islanders. 
"The  coral  waxes,  the  palm  grows,  and  man  departs," 
says  the  Marquesan;  and  he  folds  his  hands.  And 
surely  this  is  nature.  Fond  as  it  may  appear,  we  labour 
and  refrain,  not  for  the  rewards  of  any  single  life,  but 
with  a  timid  eye  upon  the  lives  and  memories  of  our 
successors;  and  where  no  one  is  to  succeed,  of  his  own 
family,  or  his  own  tongue,  I  doubt  whether  Rothschilds 
would  make  money  or  Cato  practise  virtue.  It  is  nat- 
ural, also,  that  a  temporary  stimulus  should  sometimes 
rouse  the  Marquesan  from  his  lethargy.  Over  all  the 
landward  shore  of  Anaho  cotton  runs  like  a  wild  weed; 
man  or  woman,  whoever  comes  to  pick  it,  may  earn  a 
dollar  in  the  day;  yet  when  we  arrived,  the  trader's 
store-house  was  entirely  empty;  and  before  we  left  it 
was  near  full.  So  long  as  the  circus  was  there,  so  long 
as  the  Casco  was  yet  anchored  in  the  bay,  it  behoved 
every  one  to  make  his  visit;  and  to  this  end  every 
woman  must  have  a  new  dress,  and  every  man  a  shirt 
and  trousers.  Never  before,  in  Mr.  Regler's  experience, 
had  they  displayed  so  much  activity. 

34 


DEATH 

In  their  despondency  there  is  an  element  of  dread. 
The  fear  of  ghosts  and  of  the  dark  is  very  deeply  writ- 
ten in  the  mind  of  the  Polynesian;  not  least  of  the  Mar- 
quesan.  Poor  Taipi,  the  chief  of  Anaho,  was  con- 
demned to  ride  to  Hatiheu  on  a  moonless  night.  He 
borrowed  a  lantern,  sat  a  long  while  nerving  himself 
for  the  adventure,  and  when  he  at  last  departed,  wrung 
the  Cascos  by  the  hand  as  for  a  final  separation.  Cer- 
tain presences,  called  Vehinehae,  frequent  and  make 
terrible  the  nocturnal  roadside;  1  was  told  by  one  they 
were  like  so  much  mist,  and  as  the  traveller  walked 
into  them  dispersed  and  dissipated;  another  described 
them  as  being  shaped  like  men  and  having  eyes  like 
cats;  from  none  could  I  obtain  the  smallest  clearness  as 
to  what  they  did,  or  wherefore  they  were  dreaded. 
We  may  be  sure  at  least  they  represent  the  dead;  for 
the  dead,  in  the  minds  of  the  islanders,  are  all-pervasive. 
"When  a  native  says  that  he  is  a  man,"  writes  Dr. 
Coddington,  "he  means  that  he  is  a  man  and  not  a 
ghost;  not  that  he  is  a  man  and  not  a  beast.  The  in- 
telligent agents  of  this  world  are  to  his  mind  the  men 
who  are  alive,  and  the  ghosts  the  men  who  are  dead.'' 
Dr.  Coddington  speaks  of  Melanesia;  from  what  I  have 
learned  his  words  are  equally  true  of  the  Polynesian. 
And  yet  more.  Among  cannibal  Polynesians  a  dreadful 
suspicion  rests  generally  on  the  dead;  and  the  Marque- 
sans,  the  greatest  cannibals  of  all,  are  scarce  likely  to  be 
free  from  similar  beliefs.  I  hazard  the  guess  that  the 
Vehinehae  are  the  hungry  spirits  of  the  dead,  continuing 
their  life's  business  of  the  cannibal  ambuscade,  and  ly- 
ing everywhere  unseen,  and  eager  to  devour  the  living. 
Another  superstition  I  picked  up  through  the  troubled 

35 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

medium  of  Tari  Coffin's  English.  The  dead,  he  told 
me,  came  and  danced  by  night  around  the  paepae  of 
their  former  family;  the  family  were  thereupon  over- 
come by  some  emotion  (but  whether  of  pious  sorrow 
or  of  fear  I  could  not  gather),  and  must  "  make  a  feast," 
of  which  fish,  pig,  and  popoi  were  indispensable  ingre- 
dients. So  far  this  is  clear  enough.  But  here  Tari 
went  on  to  instance  the  new  house  of  Toma  and  the 
house-warming  feast  which  was  just  then  in  prepara- 
tion as  instances  in  point.  Dare  we  indeed  string  them 
together,  and  add  the  case  of  the  deserted  ruin,  as 
though  the  dead  continually  besieged  the  paepaes  of 
the  living:  were  kept  at  arm's-length,  even  from  the 
first  foundation,  only  by  propitiatory  feasts,  and  so  soon 
as  the  fire  of  life  went  out  upon  the  hearth,  swarmed 
back  into  possession  of  their  ancient  seat  ? 

I  speak  by  guess  of  these  Marquesan  superstitions. 
On  the  cannibal  ghost  I  shall  return  elsewhere  with  cer- 
tainty. And  it  is  enough,  for  the  present  purpose,  to 
remark  that  the  men  of  the  Marquesas,  from  whatever 
reason,  fear  and  shrink  from  the  presence  of  ghosts. 
Conceive  how  this  must  tell  upon  the  nerves  in  islands 
where  the  number  of  the  dead  already  so  far  exceeds 
that  of  the  living,  and  the  dead  multiply  and  the  living 
dwindle  at  so  swift  a  rate.  Conceive  how  the  remnant 
huddles  about  the  embers  of  the  fire  of  life;  even  as  old 
Red  Indians,  deserted  on  the  march  and  in  the  snow, 
the  kindly  tribe  all  gone,  the  last  flame  expiring,  and  the 
night  around  populous  with  wolves. 


36 


CHAPTER  V 

DEPOPULATION 

Over  the  whole  extent  of  the  South  Seas,  from  one 
tropic  to  another,  we  find  traces  of  a  bygone  state  of 
over-population,  when  the  resources  of  even  a  tropical 
soil  were  taxed,  and  even  the  improvident  Polynesian 
trembled  for  the  future.  We  may  accept  some  of  the 
ideas  of  Mr.  Darwin's  theory  of  coral  islands,  and  sup- 
pose a  rise  of  the  sea,  or  the  subsidence  of  some  former 
continental  area,  to  have  driven  into  the  tops  of  the 
mountains  multitudes  of  refugees.  Or  we  may  sup- 
pose, more  soberly,  a  people  of  sea-rovers,  emigrants 
from  a  crowded  country,  to  strike  upon  and  settle  island 
after  island,  and  as  time  went  on  to  multiply  ex- 
ceedingly in  their  new  seats.  In  either  case  the  end 
must  be  the  same;  soon  or  late  it  must  grow  apparent 
that  the  crew  are  too  numerous,  and  that  famine  is  at 
hand.  The  Polynesians  met  this  emergent  danger  with 
various  expedients  of  activity  and  prevention.  A  way 
was  found  to  preserve  breadfruit  by  packing  it  in  arti- 
ficial pits;  pits  forty  feet  in  depth  and  of  proportionate 
bore  are  still  to  be  seen,  I  am  told,  in  the  Marquesas; 
and  yet  even  these  were  insufficient  for  the  teeming 
people,  and  the  annals  of  the  past  are  gloomy  with  fam- 
ine and  cannibalism.     Among  the  Hawaiians  —  a  hard- 

37 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

ier  people,  in  a  more  exacting  climate  —  agriculture  was 
carried  far;  the  land  was  irrigated  with  canals;  and  the 
fish-ponds  of  Molokai  prove  the  number  and  diligence 
of  the  old  inhabitants.  Meanwhile,  over  all  the  island 
world,  abortion  and  infanticide  prevailed.  On  coral 
atolls,  where  the  danger  was  most  plainly  obvious,  these 
were  enforced  by  law  and  sanctioned  by  punishment. 
On  Vaitupu,  in  the  Ellices,  only  two  children  were 
allowed  to  a  couple;  on  Nukufetau,  but  one.  On  the 
latter  the  punishment  was  by  fine;  and  it  is  related  that 
the  fine  was  sometimes  paid,  and  the  child  spared. 

This  is  characteristic.  For  no  people  in  the  world 
are  so  fond  or  so  long-suffering  with  children  —  chil- 
dren make  the  mirth  and  the  adornment  of  their  homes, 
serving  them  for  playthings  and  for  picture-galleries. 
"  Happy  is  the  man  that  has  his  quiver  full  of  them." 
The  stray  bastard  is  contended  for  by  rival  fomilies;  and 
the  natural  and  the  adopted  children  play  and  grow  up 
together  undistinguished.  The  spoiling,  and  I  may  al- 
most say  the  deification,  of  the  child,  is  nowhere  carried 
so  far  as  in  the  eastern  islands ;  and  furthest,  according  to 
my  opportunities  of  observation,  in  the  Paumotu  group, 
the  so-called  Low  or  Dangerous  Archipelago.  I  have 
seen  a  Paumotuan  native  turn  from  me  with  embarrass- 
ment and  disaffection  because  I  suggested  that  a  brat 
would  be  the  better  for  a  beating.  It  is  a  daily  matter  in 
some  eastern  islands  to  see  a  child  strike  or  even  stone  its 
mother,  and  the  mother,  so  far  from  punishing,  scarce 
ventures  to  resist.  In  some,  when  his  child  was  born, 
a  chief  was  superseded  and  resigned  his  name;  as 
though,  like  a  drone,  he  had  then  fulfilled  the  occasion 
of  his  being.     And  in  some  the  lightest  words  of  chil- 

38 


DEPOPULATION 

dren  had  the  weight  of  oracles.  Only  the  other  day, 
in  the  Marquesas,  if  a  child  conceived  a  distaste  to  any 
stranger,  I  am  assured  the  stranger  would  be  slain.  And 
I  shall  have  to  tell  in  another  place  an  instance  of  the 
opposite:  how  a  child  in  Manihiki  having  taken  a  fancy 
to  myself,  her  adoptive  parents  at  once  accepted  the 
situation  and  loaded  me  with  gifts. 

With  such  sentiments  the  necessity  for  child-destruc- 
tion would  not  fail  to  clash,  and  I  believe  we  find  the 
trace  of  divided  feeling  in  the  Tahitian  brotherhood  of 
Oro.  At  a  certain  date  a  new  god  was  added  to  the  So- 
ciety-Island Olympus,  or  an  old  one  refurbished  and 
made  popular.  Oro  was  his  name,  and  he  may  be  com- 
pared with  the  Bacchus  of  the  ancients.  His  zealots 
sailed  from  bay  to  bay,  and  from  island  to  island;  they 
were  everywhere  received  with  feasting;  wore  fine 
clothes;  sang,  danced,  acted;  gave  exhibitions  of  dex- 
terity and  strength;  and  were  the  artists,  the  acrobats, 
the  bards,  and  the  harlots  of  the  group.  Their  life  was 
public  and  epicurean;  their  initiation  a  mystery;  and 
the  highest  in  the  land  aspired  to  join  the  brotherhood. 
If  a  couple  stood  next  in  line  to  a  high-chieftaincy,  they 
were  suffered,  on  grounds  of  policy,  to  spare  one  child; 
all  other  children,  who  had  a  father  or  a  mother  in  the 
company  of  Oro,  stood  condemned  from  the  moment  of 
conception.  A  freemasonry,  an  agnostic  sect,  a  company 
of  artists,  its  members  all  under  oath  to  spread  unchas- 
tity,  and  all  forbidden  to  leave  offspring  —  I  do  not 
know  how  it  may  appear  to  others,  but  to  me  the  de- 
sign seems  obvious.  Famine  menacing  the  islands, 
and  the  needful  remedy  repulsive,  it  was  recommended 
to   the   native   mind   by  these  trappings  of  mystery, 

39 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

pleasure,  and  parade.  This  is  the  more  probable,  and 
the  secret,  serious  purpose  of  the  institution  appears 
the  more  plainly,  if  it  be  true,  that  after  a  certain  period 
of  life,  the  obligation  of  the  votary  was  changed;  at 
first,  bound  to  be  profligate:  afterwards,  expected  to  be 
chaste. 

Here,  then,  we  have  one  side  of  the  case.  Man-eating 
among  kindly  men,  child-murder  among  child-lovers, 
industry  in  a  race  the  most  idle,  invention  in  a  race  the 
least  progressive,  this  grim,  pagan  salvation  army  of 
the  brotherhood  of  Oro,  the  report  of  early  voyagers, 
the  wide-spread  vestiges  of  former  habitation,  and  the 
universal  tradition  of  the  islands,  all  point  to  the  same 
fact  of  former  crowding  and  alarm.  And  to-day  we  are 
face  to  face  with  the  reverse.  To-day  in  the  Marquesas, 
in  the  Eight  Islands  of  Hawaii,  in  Mangareva,  in  Easter 
Island,  we  find  the  same  race  perishing  like  flies. 
Why  this  change  ?  Or,  grant  that  the  coming  of  the 
whites,  the  change  of  habits,  and  the  introduction  of 
new  maladies  and  vices,  fully  explain  the  depopulation, 
why  is  that  depopulation  not  universal  ?  The  popula- 
tion of  Tahiti,  after  a  period  of  alarming  decrease,  has 
again  become  stationary.  I  hear  of  a  similar  result 
among  some  Maori  tribes;  in  many  of  the  Paumotus  a 
slight  increase  is  to  be  observed;  and  the  Samoans  are 
to-day  as  healthy  and  at  least  as  fruitful  as  before  the 
change.  Grant  that  the  Tahitians,  the  Maoris,  and  the 
Paumotuans  have  become  inured  to  the  new  conditions; 
and  what  are  we  to  make  of  the  Samoans,  who  have 
never  suffered  ? 

Those  who  are  acquainted  only  with  a  single  group 
are  apt  to  be  ready  with  solutions.     Thus  I  have  heard 

40 


DEPOPULATION 

the  mortality  of  the  Maoris  attributed  to  their  change  of 
residence  —  from  fortified  hill-tops  to  the  low,  marshy 
vicinity  of  their  plantations.  How  plausible!  And  yet 
the  Marquesans  are  dying  out  in  the  same  houses  where 
their  f.ithers  multiplied.  Or  take  opium.  The  Mar- 
quesas and  Hawaii  are  the  two  groups  the  most  infected 
with  this  vice;  the  population  of  the  one  is  the  most 
civilised,  that  of  the  other  by  far  the  most  barbarous,  of 
Polynesians;  and  they  are  two  of  those  that  perish  the 
most  rapidly.  Here  is  a  strong  case  against  opium. 
But  let  us  take  unchastity,  and  we  shall  find  the  Mar- 
quesas and  Hawaii  figuring  again  upon  another  count. 
Thus,  Samoans  are  the  most  chaste  of  Polynesians,  and 
they  are  to  this  day  entirely  fertile;  Marquesans  are 
the  most  debauched :  we  have  seen  how  they  are  perish- 
ing; Hawaiians  are  notoriously  lax,  and  they  begin  to 
be  dotted  among  deserts.  So  here  is  a  case  stronger 
still  against  unchastity;  and  here  also  we  have  a  correc- 
tion to  apply.  Whatever  the  virtues  of  the  Tahitian, 
neither  friend  nor  enemy  dares  call  him  chaste;  and  yet 
he  seems  to  have  outlived  the  time  of  danger.  One  last 
example:  syphilis  has  been  plausibly  credited  with 
much  of  the  sterility.  But  the  Samoans  are,  by  all  ac- 
counts, as  fruitful  as  at  first;  by  some  accounts  more  so; 
and  it  is  not  seriously  to  be  argued  that  the  Samoans 
have  escaped  syphilis. 

These  examples  show  how  dangerous  it  is  to  reason 
from  any  particular  cause,  or  even  from  many  in  a  single 
group.  I  have  in  my  eye  an  able  and  amiable  pamphlet 
by  the  Rev.  S.  E.  Bishop:  "Why  are  the  Hawaiians 
Dying  Out  ?"  Any  one  interested  in  the  subject  ought 
to  read  this  tract,  which  contains  real  information;  and 

4> 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

yet  Mr.  Bishop's  views  would  have  been  changed  by 
an  acquaintance  with  other  groups.  Samoa  is,  for  the 
moment,  the  main  and  the  most  instructive  exception 
to  the  rule.  The  people  are  the  most  chaste  and  one 
of  the  most  temperate  of  island  peoples.  They  have 
never  been  tried  and  depressed  with  any  grave  pesti- 
lence. Their  clothing  has  scarce  been  tampered  with; 
at  the  simple  and  becoming  tabard  of  the  girls,  Tartuffe, 
in  many  another  island,  would  have  cried  out;  for  the 
cool,  healthy,  and  modest  lava-lava  or  kilt,  Tartuffe  has 
managed  in  many  another  island  to  substitute  stifling  and 
inconvenient  trousers.  Lastly,  and  perhaps  chiefly,  so 
ftir  from  their  amusements  having  been  curtailed,  I 
think  they  have  been,  upon  the  whole,  extended.  The 
Polynesian  falls  easily  into  despondency:  bereavement, 
disappointment,  the  fear  of  novel  visitations,  the  decay 
or  proscription  of  ancient  pleasures,  easily  incline  him 
to  be  sad;  and  sadness  detaches  him  from  life.  The 
melancholy  of  the  Hawaiian  and  the  emptiness  of  his 
new  life  are  striking;  and  the  remark  is  yet  more  ap- 
posite to  the  Marquesas.  In  Samoa,  on  the  other  hand, 
perpetual  song  and  dance,  perpetual  games,  journeys, 
and  pleasures,  make  an  animated  and  a  smiling  picture 
of  the  island  life.  And  the  Samoans  are  to-day  the  gay- 
est and  the  best  entertained  inhabitants  of  our  planet. 
The  importance  of  this  can  scarcely  be  exaggerated.  In 
a  climate  and  upon  a  soil  where  a  livelihood  can  be  had 
for  the  stooping,  entertainment  is  a  prime  necessity.  It 
is  otherwise  with  us,  where  life  presents  us  with  a  daily 
problem,  and  there  is  a  serious -interest,  and  some  of  the 
heat  of  conflict,  in  the  mere  continuing  to  be.  So,  in 
certain  atolls,  where  there  is  no  great  gaiety,  but  man 

42 


DEPOPULATION 

must  bestir  himself  with  some  vigour  for  his  daily  bread, 
public  health  and  the  population  are  maintained;  but  in 
the  Lotos  islands,  with  the  decay  of  pleasures,  life  itself 
decays,  it  is  from  this  point  of  view  that  we  may  in- 
stance, among  other  causes  of  depression,  the  decay  of 
war.  We  have  been  so  long  used  in  Europe  to  that 
dreary  business  of  war  on  the  great  scale,  trailing  epi- 
demics and  leaving  pestilential  corpses  in  its  train,  that 
we  have  almost  forgotten  its  original,  the  most  health- 
ful, if  not  the  most  humane,  of  all  field  sports  —  hedge- 
warfare.  From  this,  as  well  as  from  the  rest  of  his 
amusements  and  interests,  the  islander,  upon  a  hundred 
islands,  has  been  recently  cut  off.  And  to  this,  as  well 
as  to  so  many  others,  the  Samoan  still  makes  good  a 
special  title. 

Upon  the  whole,  the  problem  seems  to  me  to  stand 
thus:  —  Where  there  have  been  fewest  changes,  im- 
portant or  unimportant,  salutary  or  hurtful,  there  the 
race  survives.  Where  there  have  been  most,  import- 
ant or  unimportant,  salutary  or  hurtful,  there  it  perishes. 
Each  change,  however  small,  augments  the  sum  of  new 
conditions  to  which  the  race  has  to  become  inured. 
There  may  seem,  a  prion,  no  comparison  between  the 
change  from  "sour  toddy"  to  bad  gin,  and  that  from 
the  island  kilt  to  a  pair  of  European  trousers.  Yet  I  am 
far  from  persuaded  that  the  one  is  any  more  hurtful  than 
the  other;  and  the  unaccustomed  race  will  sometimes 
die  of  pin-pricks.  We  are  here  face  to  face  with  one  of 
the  difficulties  of  the  missionary.  In  Polynesian  islands 
he  easily  obtains  pre-eminent  authority;  the  king  be- 
comes his  mairedepalais ;  he  can  proscribe,  he  can 
command;   and  the  temptation   is   ever  towards  too 

43 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

much.  Thus  (by  all  accounts)  the  Catholics  in  Man- 
gareva,  and  thus  (to  my  own  knowledge)  the  Protes- 
tants in  Hawaii,  have  rendered  life  in  a  more  or  less  de- 
gree uniiveable  to  their  converts.  And  the  mild,  un- 
complaining creatures  (like  children  in  a  prison)  yawn 
and  await  death.  It  is  easy  to  blame  the  missionary. 
But  it  is  his  business  to  make  changes.  It  is  surely  his 
business,  for  example,  to  prevent  war;  and  yet  I  have 
instanced  war  itself  as  one. of  the  elements  of  health. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  were,  perhaps,  easy  for  the  mis- 
sionary to  proceed  more  gently,  and  to  regard  every 
change  as  an  affair  of  weight.  I  take  the  average  mis- 
sionary;  I  am  sure  I  do  him  no  more  than  justice  when 
I  suppose  that  he  would  hesitate  to  bombard  a  village, 
even  in  order  to  convert  an  archipelago.  Experience 
begins  to  show  us  (at  least  in  Polynesian  islands)  that 
change  of  habit  is  bloodier  than  a  bombardment. 

There  is  one  point,  ere  I  have  done,  where  I  may  go 
to  meet  criticism.  I  have  said  nothing  of  faulty  hygiene, 
bathing  during  fevers,  mistaken  treatment  of  children, 
native  doctoring,  or  abortion  —  all  causes  frequently 
adduced.  And  I  have  said  nothing  of  them  because 
they  are  conditions  common  to  both  epochs,  and  even 
more  efficient  in  the  past  than  in  the  present.  Was  it 
not  the  same  with  unchastity,  it  may  be  asked  ?  Was 
not  the  Polynesian  always  unchaste  ?  Doubtless  he 
was  so  always:  doubtless  he  is  more  so  since  the  com- 
ing of  his  remarkably  chaste  visitors  from  Europe.  Take 
the  Hawaiian  account  of  Cook:  I  have  no  doubt  it  is 
entirely  fair.  Take  Krusenstern's  candid,  almost  inno- 
cent, description  of  a  Russian  man-of-war  at  the  Mar- 
quesas; consider  the  disgraceful  history  of  missions  in 

44 


DEPOPULATION 

Hawaii  itself,  where  (in  the  war  of  lust)  the  American 
missionaries  were  once  shelled  by  an  English  adven- 
turer, and  once  raided  and  mishandled  by  the  crew  of 
an  American  warship;  add  the  practice  of  whaling 
fleets  to  call  at  the  Marquesas,  and  carry  off  a  comple- 
ment of  women  for  the  cruise;  consider,  besides,  how 
the  whites  were  at  first  regarded  in  the  light  of  demi- 
gods, as  appears  plainly  in  the  reception  of  Cook  upon 
Hawaii;  and  again,  in  the  story  of  the  discovery  of  Tu- 
tuila,  when  the  really  decent  women  of  Samoa  prosti- 
tuted themselves  in  public  to  the  French;  and  bear  in 
mind  how  it  was  the  custom  of  the  adventurers,  and 
we  may  almost  say  the  business  of  the  missionaries,  to 
deride  and  infract  even  the  most  salutary  tapus.  Here 
we  see  every  engine  of  dissolution  directed  at  once 
against  a  virtue  never  and  nowhere  very  strong  or  pop- 
ular; and  the  result,  even  in  the  most  degraded  islands, 
has  been  further  degradation.  Mr.  Lawes,  the  mission- 
ary of  Savage  Island,  told  me  the  standard  of  female 
chastity  had  declined  there  since  the  coming  of  the 
whites.  In  heathen  time,  if  a  girl  gave  birth  to  a  bas- 
tard, her  father  or  brother  would  dash  the  infant  down 
the  cliffs;  and  to-day  the  scandal  would  be  small.  Or 
take  the  Marquesas.  Stanislao  Moanatini  told  me  that 
in  his  own  recollection,  the  young  were  strictly  guarded ; 
they  were  not  suffered  so  much  as  to  look  upon  one 
another  in  the  street,  but  passed  (so  my  informant  put 
it)  like  dogs;  and  the  other  day  the  whole  school-chil- 
dren of  Nukahiva  and  Uapu  escaped  in  a  body  to  the 
woods,  and  lived  there  for  a  fortnight  in  promiscuous 
liberty.  Readers  of  travels  may  perhaps  exclaim  at  my 
authority,  and  declare  themselves  better  informed.     I 

45 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

should  prefer  the  statement  of  an  intelligent  native  like 
Stanislao  (even  if  it  stood  alone,  which  it  is  far  from 
doing)  to  the  report  of  the  most  honest  traveller.  A 
ship  of  war  comes  to  a  haven,  anchors,  lands  a  party, 
receives  and  returns  a  visit,  and  the  captain  writes  a 
chapter  on  the  manners  of  the  island.  It  is  not  consid- 
ered what  class  is  mostly  seen.  Yet  we  should  not  be 
pleased  if  a  Lascar  foremast  hand  were  to  judge  England 
by  the  ladies  who  parade  Ratcliffe  Highway,  and  the 
gentlemen  who  share  with  them  their  hire.  Stanislao's 
opinion  of  a  decay  of  virtue  even  in  these  unvirtuous 
islands  has  been  supported  to  me  by  others;  his  very 
example,  the  progress  of  dissolution  amongst  the  young, 
is  adduced  by  Mr.  Bishop  in  Hawaii.  And  so  far  as 
Marquesans  are  concerned,  we  might  have  hazarded  a 
guess  of  some  decline  in  manners.  I  do  not  think  that 
any  race  could  ever  have  prospered  or  multiplied  with 
such  as  now  obtain ;  1  am  sure  they  would  have  been 
never  at  the  pains  to  count  paternal  kinship.  It  is  not 
possible  to  give  details;  suffice  it  that  their  manners 
appear  to  be  imitated  from  the  dreams  of  ignorant  and 
vicious  children,  and  their  debauches  persevered  in  until 
energy,  reason,  and  almost  life  itself  are  in  abeyance. 


46 


CHAPTER  VI 


CHIEFS   AND   TAPUS 


We  used  to  admire  exceedingly  the  bland  and  gallant 
manners  of  the  chief  called  Taipi-Kikino.  An  elegant 
guest  at  table,  skilled  in  the  use  of  knife  and  fork,  a 
brave  figure  when  he  shouldered  a  gun  and  started  for 
the  woods  after  wild  chickens,  always  serviceable,  al- 
ways ingratiating  and  gay,  I  would  sometimes  wonder 
where  he  found  his  cheerfulness.  He  had  enough  to 
sober  him,  1  thought,  in  his  official  budget.  His  ex- 
penses—  for  he  was  always  seen  attired  in  virgin  white 
—  must  have  by  far  exceeded  his  income  of  six  dollars 
in  the  year,  or  say  two  shillings  a  month.  And  he  was 
himself  a  man  of  no  substance;  his  house  the  poorest 
in  the  village.  It  was  currently  supposed  that  his  elder 
brother,  Kauanui,  must  have  helped  him  out.  But  how 
comes  it  that  the  elder  brother  should  succeed  to  the 
fiunily  estate,  and  be  a  wealthy  commoner,  and  the 
younger  be  a  poor  man,  and  yet  rule  as  chief  in  Anaho  ? 

That  the  one  should  be  wealthy  and  the  other  almost 
indigent  is  probably  to  be  explained  by  some  adoption; 
for  comparatively  few  children  are  brought  up  in  the 
house  or  succeed  to  the  estates  of  their  natural  begetters. 
That  the  one  should  be  chief  instead  of  the  other  must 
be  explained  (in  a  very  Irish  fiishion)  on  the  ground 
that  neither  of  them  is  a  chief  at  all. 

47 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

Since  the  return  and  the  wars  of  the  French,  man}/ 
chiefs  have  been  deposed,  and  many  so-called  chiefs  ap- 
pointed. We  have  seen,  in  the  same  house,  one  such 
upstart  drini^ing  in  the  company  of  two  such  extruded 
island  Bourbons,  men,  whose  word  a  few  years  ago  was 
life  and  death,  nov/  sunk  to  be  peasants  like  their  neigh- 
bours. So  when  the  French  overthrew  hereditary  ty- 
rants, dubbed  the  commons  of  the  Marquesas  free-born 
citizens  of  the  Republic,  and  endowed  them  with  a  vote 
for  a  conseiller  general  at  Tahiti,  they  probably  con- 
ceived themselves  upon  the  path  to  popularity;  and  so 
far  from  that,  they  were  revolting  public  sentiment. 
The  deposition  of  the  chiefs  was  perhaps  sometimes 
needful ;  the  appointment  of  others  may  have  been  need- 
ful also;  it  was  at  least  a  delicate  business.  The 
Government  of  George  II.  exiled  many  Highland  mag- 
nates. It  never  occurred  to  them  to  manufacture  sub- 
stitutes; and  if  the  French  have  been  more  bold,  we 
have  yet  to  see  with  what  success. 

Our  chief  at  Anaho  was  always  called,  he  always 
called  himself,  Taipi-Kikino;  and  yet  that  was  not  his 
name,  but  only  the  wand  of  his  false  position.  As  soon 
as  he  was  appointed  chief,  his  name  —  which  signified, 
if  I  remember  exactly,  Prince  born  among  flowers — fell 
in  abeyance,  and  he  was  dubbed  instead  by  the  ex- 
pressive byword,  Taipi-Kikino — Highwatenn an-of -no- 
account —  or,  Englishing  more  boldly,  Beggar  on  horse- 
back—  a  witty  and  a  wicked  cut.  A  nickname  in  Poly- 
nesia destroys  almost  the  memory  of  the  original  name. 
To-day,  if  we  were  Polynesians,  Gladstone  would  be  no 
more  heard  of.  We  should  speak  of  and  address  our 
Nestor  as  the  Grand  Old  Man,  and  it  is  so  that  himself 


CHIEFS   AND   TAPUS 

would  sign  his  correspondence.  Not  the  prevalence, 
then,  but  the  significancy  of  the  nickname  is  to  be  noted 
here.  The  new  authority  began  with  small  prestige. 
Taipi  has  now  been  some  time  in  office;  from  all  I  saw 
he  seemed  a  person  very  fit.  He  is  not  the  least  un- 
popular, and  yet  his  power  is  nothing.  He  is  a  chief  to 
the  French,  and  goes  to  breakfiist  with  the  Resident; 
but  for  any  practical  end  of  chieftaincy  a  rag  doll  were 
equally  efficient. 

We  had  been  but  three  days  in  Anaho  when  we  re- 
ceived the  visit  of  the  chief  of  Hatiheu,  a  man  of  weight 
and  fiime,  late  leader  of  a  war  upon  the  French,  late 
prisoner  in  Tahiti,  and  the  last  eater  of  long-pig  in  Nuka- 
hiva.  Not  many  years  have  elapsed  since  he  was  seen 
striding  on  the  beach  of  Anaho,  a  dead  man's  arm  across 
his  shoulder.  "  So  does  Kooamua  to  his  enemies!  "  he 
roared  to  the  passers-by,  and  took  a  bite  from  the  raw 
flesh.  And  now  behold  this  gentleman,  very  wisely 
replaced  in  office  by  the  French,  paying  us  a  morning 
visit  in  European  clothes.  He  was  the  man  of  the  most 
character  we  had  yet  seen:  his  manners  genial  and  de- 
cisive, his  person  tall,  his  face  rugged,  astute,  formidable, 
and  with  a  certain  similarity  to  Mr.  Gladstone's  —  only 
for  the  brownness  of  the  skin,  and  the  high-chief's  tat- 
tooing all  one  side,  and  much  of  the  other  being  of  an 
even  blue.  Further  acquaintance  increased  our  opinion 
of  his  sense.  He  viewed  the  disco  in  a  manner  then 
quite  new  to  us,  examining  her  lines  and  the  running  of 
the  gear ;  to  a  piece  of  knitting  on  which  one  of  the  party 
was  engaged,  he  must  have  devoted  ten  minutes'  patient 
study ;  nor  did  he  desist  before  he  had  divined  the  princi- 
ples ;  and  he  was  interested  even  to  excitement  by  a  type- 

49 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

writer,  which  he  learned  to  work.  When  he  departed 
he  carried  away  with  him  a  list  of  his  family,  with  his 
own  name  printed  by  his  own  hand  at  the  bottom.  1 
should  add  that  he  was  plainly  much  of  a  humorist,  and 
not  a  little  of  a  humbug.  He  told  us,  for  instance,  that 
he  was  a  person  of  exact  sobriety;  such  being  the  obli- 
gation of  his  high  estate:  the  commons  might  be  sots, 
but  the  chief  could  not  stoop  so  low.  And  not  many 
days  after  he  was  to  be  observed  in  a  state  of  smiling 
and  lopsided  imbecility,  the  Casco  ribbon  upside  down 
on  his  dishonoured  hat. 

But  his  business  that  morning  in  Anaho  is  what  con- 
cerns us  here.  The  devil-fish,  it  seems,  were  growing 
scarce  upon  the  reef;  it  was  judged  fit  to  interpose 
what  we  should  call  a  close  season;  for  that  end,  in 
Polynesia,  a  tapu  (vulgarly  spelt  "taboo")  has  to  be 
declared,  and  who  was  to  declare  it  .^  Taipi  might;  he 
ought;  it  was  a  chief  part  of  his  duty;  but  would  any 
one  regard  the  inhibition  of  a  Beggar  on  Horseback  } 
He  might  plant  palm  branches;  it  did  not  in  the  least 
follow  that  the  spot  was  sacred.  He  might  recite  the 
spell:  it  was  shrewdly  supposed  the  spirits  would  not 
hearken.  And  the  old,  legitimate  cannibal  must  ride 
over  the  mountains  to  do  it  for  him ;  and  the  respecta- 
ble official  in  white  clothes  could  but  look  on  and  envy. 
At  about  the  same  time,  though  in  a  different  manner, 
Kooamua  established  a  forest  law.  It  was  observed 
the  cocoa  palms  were  suffering,  for  the  plucking  of 
green  nuts  impoverishes  and  at  last  endangers  the  tree. 
Now  Kooamua  could  tapu  the  reef,  which  was  public 
property,  but  he  could  not  tapu  other  people's  palms; 
and  the  expedient  adopted  was  interesting.    He  tapued 

50 


CHIEFS   AND    TAPUS 

his  own  trees,  and  his  example  was  imitated  over  all 
Hatiheu  and  Anaho.  I  fearTaipi  might  have  tapued  all 
that  he  possessed  and  found  none  to  follow  him.  So 
much  for  the  esteem  in  which  the  dignity  of  an  ap- 
pointed chief  is  held  by  others;  a  single  circumstance 
will  show  what  he  thinks  of  it  himself.  I  never  met  one, 
but  he  took  an  early  opportunity  to  explain  his  situa- 
tion. True,  he  was  only  an  appointed  chief  when  I 
beheld  him;  but  somewhere  else,  perhaps  upon  some 
other  isle,  he  was  a  chieftain  by  descent:  upon  which 
ground,  he  asked  me  (so  to  say  it)  to  excuse  his  mush- 
room honours. 

It  will  be  observed  with  surprise  that  both  these 
tapus  are  for  thoroughly  sensible  ends.  With  surprise, 
1  say,  because  the  nature  of  that  institution  is  much 
misunderstood  in  Europe.  It  is  taken  usually  in  the 
sense  of  a  meaningless  or  wanton  prohibition,  such  as 
that  which  to-day  prevents  women  in  some  countries 
from  smoking,  or  yesterday  prevented  any  one  in  Scot- 
land from  taking  a  walk  on  Sunday.  The  error  is  no 
less  natural  than  it  is  unjust.  The  Polynesians  have  not 
been  trained  in  the  bracing,  practical  thought  of  ancient 
Rome;  with  them  the  idea  of  law  has  not  been  disen- 
gaged from  that  of  morals  or  propriety;  so  that  tapu 
has  to  cover  the  whole  field,  and  implies  indifferently 
that  an  act  is  criminal,  immoral,  against  sound  public 
policy,  unbecoming  or  (as  we  say)  "  not  in  good  form." 
Many  tapus  were  in  consequence  absurd  enough,  such 
as  those  which  deleted  words  out  of  the  language,  and 
particularly  those  which  related  to  women.  Tapu  encir- 
cled women  upon  all  hands.  Many  things  were  for- 
bidden to  men ;  to  women  we  may  say  that  few  were 

5" 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

permitted.  They  must  not  sit  on  the  paepae;  they 
must  not  go  up  to  it  by  the  stair;  they  must  not  eat 
pork;  they  must  not  approach  a  boat;  they  must  not 
cook  at  a  fire  which  any  male  had  kindled.  The  other 
day,  after  the  roads  were  made,  it  was  observed  the 
women  plunged  along  the  margin  through  the  bush, 
and  when  they  came  to  a  bridge  waded  through  the 
water:  roads  and  bridges  were  the  work  of  men's 
hands,  and  tapu  for  the  foot  of  women.  Even  a  man's 
saddle,  if  the  man  be  native,  is  a  thing  no  self-respect- 
ing lady  dares  to  use.  Thus  on  the  Anaho  side  of  the 
island,  only  two  white  men,  Mr.  Regler  and  the  gen- 
darme, M,  Aussel,  possess  saddles;  and  when  a  woman 
has  a  journey  to  make  she  must  borrow  from  one  or 
other.  It  will  be  noticed  that  these  prohibitions  tend, 
most  of  them,  to  an  increased  reserve  between  the  sexes. 
Regard  for  female  chastity  is  the  usual  excuse  for  these 
disabilities  that  men  delight  to  lay  upon  their  wives  and 
mothers.  Here  the  regard  is  absent;  and  behold  the 
women  still  bound  hand  and  foot  with  meaningless 
proprieties !  The  women  themselves,  who  are  survivors 
of  the  old  regimen,  admit  that  in  those  days  life  was 
not  worth  living.  And  yet  even  then  there  were  ex- 
ceptions. There  were  female  chiefs  and  (1  am  assured) 
priestesses  besides;  nice  customs  curtseyed  to  great 
dames,  and  in  the  most  sacred  enclosure  of  a  High 
Place,  Father  Simeon  Delwar  was  shown  a  stone,  and 
told  it  was  the  throne  of  some  well-descended  lady. 
How  exactly  parallel  is  this  with  European  practice, 
when  princesses  were  suffered  to  penetrate  the  strictest 
cloister,  and  women  could  rule  over  a  land  in  which 
they  were  denied  the  control  of  their  own  children. 


CHIEFS   AND   TAPUS 

But  the  tapu  is  more  often  the  instrument  of  wise  and 
needful  restrictions.  We  have  seen  it  as  the  organ  of 
paternal  government.  It  serves  besides  to  enforce,  in 
the  rare  case  of  some  one  wishing  to  enforce  them, 
rights  of  private  property.  Thus  a  man,  weary  of  the 
coming  and  going  of  Marquesan  visitors,  tapus  his 
door;  and  to  this  day  you  may  see  the  palm-branch 
signal,  even  as  our  great-grandfathers  saw  the  peeled 
wand  before  a  Highland  inn.  Or  take  another  case. 
Anaho  is  known  as  "the  country  without  popoi."  The 
word  popoi  serves  in  different  islands  to  indicate  the 
main  food  of  the  people:  thus,  in  Hawaii,  it  implies  a 
preparation  of  taro;  in  the  Marquesas,  of  breadfruit. 
And  a  Marquesan  does  not  readily  conceive  life  possible 
without  his  favourite  diet.  A  few  years  ago  a  drought 
killed  the  breadfruit  trees  and  the  bananas  in  the  dis- 
trict of  Anaho;  and  from  this  calamity,  and  the  open- 
handed  customs  of  the  island,  a  singular  state  of  things 
arose.  Well- watered  Hatiheu  had  escaped  the  drought ; 
every  householder  of  Anaho  accordingly  crossed  the 
pass,  chose  some  one  in  Hatiheu,  "gave  him  his  name  " 
—  an  onerous  gift,  but  one  not  to  be  rejected — and 
from  this  improvised  relative  proceeded  to  draw  his  sup- 
plies, for  all  the  world  as  though  he  had  paid  for  them. 
Hence  a  continued  traffic  on  the  road.  Some  stalwart 
fellow,  in  a  loin-cloth,  and  glistening  with  sweat,  may 
be  seen  at  all  hours  of  the  day,  a  stick  across  his  bare 
shoulders,  tripping  nervously  under  a  double  burthen 
of  green  fruits.  And  on  the  far  side  of  the  gap  a  dozen 
stone  posts  on  the  wayside  in  the  shadow  of  a  grove 
mark  the  breathing-place  of  the  popoi-carriers.  A  little 
back  from  the  beach,  and  not  half  a  mile  from  Anaho, 

53 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

I  wns  the  more  amazed  to  find  a  cluster  of  well-doing 
breadfruits  heavy  with  their  harvest.  "Why  do  you 
not  take  these  ?"  I  asked.  "  Tapu,"  said  Hoka;  and! 
thought  to  myself  (after  the  manner  of  dull  travellers) 
what  children  and  fools  these  people  were  to  toil  over 
the  mountain  and  despoil  innocent  neighbours  when 
the  staff  of  life  was  thus  growing  at  their  door.  I  was 
the  more  in  error.  In  the  general  destruction  these 
surviving  trees  were  enough  only  for  the  family  of  the 
proprietor,  and  by  the  simple  expedient  of  declaring  a 
tapu  he  enforced  his  right. 

The  sanction  of  the  tapu  is  superstitious;  and  the 
punishment  of  infraction  either  a  wasting  or  a  deadly 
sickness.  A  slow  disease  follows  on  the  eating  of  tapu 
fish,  and  can  only  be  cured  with  the  bones  of  the  same 
fish  burned  with  the  due  mysteries.  The  cocoa-nut 
and  breadfruit  tapu  works  more  swiftly.  Suppose  you 
have  eaten  tapu  fruit  at  the  evening  meal,  at  night  your 
sleep  will  be  uneasy;  in  the  morning,  swelling  and  a 
dark  discoloration  will  have  attacked  your  neck,  whence 
they  spread  upward  to  the  face;  and  in  two  days,  unless 
the  cure  be  interjected,  you  must  die.  This  cure  is 
prepared  from  the  rubbed  leaves  of  the  tree  from  which 
the  patient  stole;  so  that  he  cannot  be  saved  without 
confessing  to  the  kahuku  the  person  whom  he  wTonged. 
In  the  experience  of  my  informant,  almost  no  tapu  had 
been  put  in  use,  except  the  two  described:  he  had  thus 
no  opportunity  to  learn  the  nature  and  operation  of  the 
others;  and,  as  the  art  of  making  them  was  jealously 
guarded  amongst  the  old  men,  he  believed  the  mystery 
would  soon  die  out.  I  should  add  that  he  was  no 
Marquesan,  but  a  Chinaman,  a  resident  in  the  group 

54 


CHIEFS   AND   TAPUS 

from  boyhood,  and  a  reverent  believer  in  the  spells 
which  he  described.  White  men,  amongst  whom  Ah 
Foo  included  himself,  were  exempt;  but  he  had  a  tale 
of  a  Tahitian  woman  who  had  come  to  the  Marquesas, 
eaten  tapu  fish,  and,  although  uninformed  of  her  offence 
and  danger,  had  been  afflicted  and  cured  exactly  like  a 
native. 

Doubtless  the  belief  is  strong;  doubtless,  with  this 
weakly  and  fanciful  race,  it  is  in  many  cases  strong 
enough  to  kill;  it  should  be  strong  indeed  in  those  who 
tapu  their  trees  secretly,  so  that  they  may  detect  a 
depredator  by  his  sickness.  Or,  perhaps,  we  should 
understand  the  idea  of  the  hidden  tapu  otherwise,  as  a 
politic  device  to  spread  uneasiness  and  extort  confes- 
sions: so  that,  when  a  man  is  ailing,  he  shall  ransack 
his  brain  for  any  possible  offence,  and  send  at  once  for 
any  proprietor  whose  rights  he  has  invaded.  "  Had 
you  hidden  a  tapu.?"  we  may  conceive  him  asking; 
and  I  cannot  imagine  the  proprietor  gainsaying  it;  and 
this  is  perhaps  the  strangest  feature  of  the  system  —  that 
it  should  be  regarded  from  without  with  such  a  mental 
and  implicit  awe,  and,  when  examined  from  within, 
should  present  so  many  apparent  evidences  of  design. 

We  read  in  Dr.  Campbell's  Poenamo  of  a  New  Zea- 
land girl  who  was  foolishly  told  that  she  had  eaten  a 
tapu  yam,  and  who  instantly  sickened,  and  died  in  the 
two  days  of  simple  terror.  The  period  is  the  same  as 
in  the  Marquesas;  doubtless  the  symptoms  were  so  too. 
How  singular  to  consider  that  a  superstition  of  such 
sway  is  possibly  a  manufactured  article;  and  that,  even 
if  it  were  not  originally  invented,  its  details  have  plainly 
been  arranged  by  the  authorities  of  some  Polynesian 

55 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

Scotland  Yard.  Fitly  enough,  the  belief  is  to-day  —  and 
was  probably  always  —  far  from  universal.  Hell  at 
home  is  a  strong  deterrent  with  some ;  a  passing  thought 
with  others;  with  others,  again,  a  theme  of  public 
mockery,  not  always  well  assured;  and  so  in  the  Mar- 
quesas with  the  tapu.  Mr.  Regler  had  seen  the  two 
extremes  of  scepticism  and  implicit  fear.  In  the  tapu 
grove  he  found  one  fellow  stealing  breadfruit,  cheerful 
and  impudent  as  a  street  arab;  and  it  was  only  on  a 
menace  of  exposure  that  he  showed  himself  the  least 
discountenanced.  The  other  case  was  opposed  in  every 
point.  Mr.  Regler  asked  a  native  to  accompany  him 
upon  a  voyage;  the  man  went  gladly  enough,  but  sud- 
denly perceiving  a  dead  tapu  fish  in  the  bottom  of  the 
boat,  leaped  back  with  a  scream ;  nor  could  the  prom- 
ise of  a  dollar  prevail  upon  him  to  advance. 

The  Marquesan,  it  will  be  observed,  adheres  to  the 
old  idea  of  the  local  circumspection  of  beliefs  and  duties. 
Not  only  are  the  whites  exempt  from  consequence;  but 
their  transgressions  seem  to  be  viewed  without  horror. 
It  was  Mr.  Regler  who  had  killed  the  fish;  yet  the  de- 
vout native  was  not  shocked  at  Mr.  Regler  —  only  re- 
fused to  join  him  in  his  boat.  A  white  is  a  white:  the 
servant  (so  to  speak)  of  other  and  more  liberal  gods; 
and  not  to  be  blamed  if  he  profit  by  his  liberty.  The 
Jews  were  perhaps  the  first  to  interrupt  this  ancient 
comity  of  faiths;  and  the  Jewish  virus  is  still  strong  in 
Christianity.  All  the  world  must  respect  our  tapus,  or 
we  gnash  our  teeth. 


56 


CHAPTER  VII 


HATIHEU 


The  bays  of  Anaho  and  Hatiheu  are  divided  at  their 
roots  by  the  knife-edge  of  a  single  hill  —  the  pass  so 
often  mentioned;  but  this  isthmus  expands  to  the  sea- 
ward in  a  considerable  peninsula :  very  bare  and  grassy ; 
haunted  by  sheep  and,  at  night  and  morning,  by  the 
piercing  cries  of  the  shepherds ;  wandered  over  by  a  few 
wild  goats;  and  on  its  sea-front  indented  with  long, 
clamorous  caves,  and  faced  with  cliffs  of  the  colour  and 
ruinous  outline  of  an  old  peat-stack.  In  one  of  these 
echoing  and  sunless  gullies  we  saw,  clustered  like  sea- 
birds  on  a  splashing  ledge,  shrill  as  sea-birds  in  their 
salutation  to  the  passing  boat,  a  group  of  fisherwomen, 
stripped  to  their  gaudy  under-clothes.  (The  clash  of 
the  surf  and  the  thin  female  voices  echo  in  my  memory.) 
We  had  that  day  a  native  crew  and  steersman,  Kauanui; 
it  was  our  first  experience  of  Polynesian  seamanship, 
which  consists  in  hugging  every  point  of  land.  There 
is  no  thought  in  this  of  saving  time,  for  they  will  pull 
a  long  way  in  to  skirt  a  point  that  is  embayed.  It 
seems  that,  as  they  can  never  get  their  houses  near 
enough  the  surf  upon  the  one  side,  so  they  can  never 
get  their  boats  near  enough  upon  the  other.  The  prac- 
tice in  bold  water  is  not  so  dangerous  as  it  looks  —  the 

57 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

r.'flex  from  the  rocks  sending  the  boat  off.  Near  beaches 
with  a  heavy  run  of  sea,  1  continue  to  think  it  very 
hazardous,  and  find  the  composure  of  the  natives  an- 
noying to  behold.  We  took  unmingled  pleasure,  on 
the  way  out,  to  see  so  near  at  hand  the  beach  and  the 
wonderful  colours  of  the  surf.  On  the  way  back,  when 
the  sea  had  risen  and  was  running  strong  against  us, 
the  fineness  of  the  steersman's  aim  grew  more  embar- 
rassing. As  we  came  abreast  of  the  sea-front,  where  the 
surf  broke  highest,  Kauanui  embraced  the  occasion  to 
light  his  pipe,  which  then  made  the  circuit  of  the  boat 
—  each  man  taking  a  whiff  or  two,  and,  ere  he  passed 
it  on,  filling  his  lungs  and  cheeks  with  smoke.  Their 
faces  were  all  puffed  out  like  apples  as  we  came  abreast 
of  the  cliff  foot,  and  the  bursting  surge  fell  back  into  the 
boat  in  showers.  At  the  next  point  "cocanetti  "  was 
the  word,  and  the  stroke  borrowed  my  knife,  and  de- 
sisted from  his  labours  to  open  nuts.  These  untimely 
indulgences  may  be  compared  to  the  tot  of  grog  served 
out  before  a  ship  goes  into  action. 

My  purpose  in  this  visit  led  me  first  to  the  boys' 
school,  for  Hatiheu  is  the  university  of  the  north  islands. 
The  hum  of  the  lesson  came  out  to  meet  us.  Close  by 
the  door,  where  the  draught  blew  coolest,  sat  the  lay 
brother;  around  him,  in  a  packed  half-circle,  some  sixty 
high-coloured  faces  set  with  staring  eyes;  and  in  the 
background  of  the  barn-like  room  benches  were  to  be 
seen,  and  blackboards  with  sums  on  them  in  chalk. 
The  brother  rose  to  greet  us,  sensibly  humble.  Thirty 
years  he  had  been  there,  he  said,  and  fingered  his  white 
locks  as  a  bashful  child  pulls  out  his  pinafore.  "  £/ 
point  de  resultats,  monsieur,  prcsque  pas  de  resultats." 

58 


HATIHEU 

He  pointed  to  the  scholars:  "  You  see,  sir,  all  the  youth 
of  Nuka-hiva  and  Uapu.  Between  the  ages  of  six  and 
fifteen  this  is  all  that  remains ;  and  it  is  but  a  few  years 
since  we  had  a  hundred  and  twenty  from  Nuka-hiva 
alone.  Oui\  monsieur,  cela  se  deptrit. ' '  Prayers,  and 
reading  and  writing,  prayers  again  and  arithmetic,  and 
more  prayers  to  conclude:  such  appeared  to  be  the 
dreary  nature  of  the  course.  For  arithmetic  all  island 
people  have  a  natural  taste.  In  Hawaii  they  make  good 
progress  in  mathematics.  In  one  of  the  villages  on 
Majuro,  and  generally  in  the  Marshall  group,  the  whole 
population  sit  about  the  trader  when  he  is  weighing 
copra,  and  each  on  his  own  slate  takes  down  the  figures 
and  computes  the  total.  The  trader,  finding  them  so 
apt,  introduced  fractions,  for  which  they  had  been  taught 
no  rule.  At  first  they  were  quite  gravelled,  but  ulti- 
mately, by  sheer  hard  thinking,  reasoned  out  the  result, 
and  came  one  after  another  to  assure  the  trader  he  was 
right.  Not  many  people  in  Europe  could  have  done 
the  like.  The  course  at  Hatiheu  is  therefore  less  dis- 
piriting to  Polynesians  than  a  stranger  might  have 
guessed;  and  yet  how  bald  it  is  at  best!  I  asked  the 
brother  if  he  did  not  tell  them  stories,  and  he  stared  at 
me;  if  he  did  not  teach  them  history,  and  he  said,  "O 
yes,  they  had  a  little  Scripture  history  —  from  the  New 
Testament " ;  and  repeated  his  lamentations  over  the 
lack  of  results.  I  had  not  the  heart  to  put  more  ques- 
tions; I  could  but  say  it  must  be  very  discouraging,  and 
resist  the  impulse  to  add  that  it  seemed  also  very  nat- 
ural. He  looked  up — "My  days  are  far  spent,"  he 
said;  "heaven  awaits  me."  May  that  heaven  forgive 
me,  but  I  was  angry  with  the  old  man  and  his  simple 

59 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

consolation.  For  think  of  his  opportunity!  The  youth, 
from  six  to  fifteen,  are  taken  from  their  homes  by  Gov- 
ernment, centralised  at  Hatiheu,  where  they  are  sup- 
ported by  a  weekly  lax  of  food;  and  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  month  in  every  year,  surrendered  wholly  to 
the  direction  of  the  priests.  Since  the  escapade  already 
mentioned  the  holiday  occurs  at  a  different  period  for 
the  girls  and  for  the  boys;  so  that  a  Marquesan  brother 
and  sister  meet  again,  after  their  education  is  complete, 
a  pair  of  strangers.  It  is  a  harsh  law,  and  highly  un- 
popular; but  what  a  power  it  places  in  the  hands  of  the 
instructors,  and  how  languidly  and  dully  is  that  power 
employed  by  the  mission!  Too  much  concern  to  make 
the  natives  pious,  a  design  in  which  they  all  confess 
defeat,  is,  I  suppose,  the  explanation  of  their  miserable 
system.  But  they  might  see  in  the  girls'  school  at  Tai- 
o-hae,  under  the  brisk,  housewifely  sisters,  a  different 
picture  of  efficiency,  and  a  scene  of  neatness,  airiness, 
and  spirited  and  mirthful  occupation  that  should  shame 
them  into  cheerier  methods.  The  sisters  themselves 
lament  their  failure.  They  complain  the  annual  holiday 
undoes  the  whole  year's  work;  they  complain  particu- 
larly of  the  heartless  indifference  of  the  girls.  Out  of  so 
many  pretty  and  apparently  affectionate  pupils  whom 
they  have  taught  and  reared,  only  two  have  ever  re- 
turned to  pay  a  visit  of  remembrance  to  their  teachers. 
These,  indeed,  come  regularly,  but  the  rest,  so  soon  as 
their  school-days  are  over,  disappear  into  the  woods 
like  captive  insects.  It  is  hard  to  imagine  anything 
more  discouraging;  and  yet  I  do  not  believe  these  la- 
dies need  despair.  For  a  certain  interval  they  keep  the 
girls  alive  and  innocently  busy;  and  if  it  be  at  all  possi- 

60 


HATIHEU 

ble  to  save  the  race,  this  would  be  the  means.  No  such 
praise  can  be  given  to  the  boys'  school  at  Hatiheu.  The 
day  is  numbered  already  for  them  all;  alike  for  the 
teacher  and  the  scholars  death  is  girt;  he  is  afoot  upon 
the  march ;  and  in  the  frequent  interval  they  sit  and 
yawn.  But  in  life  there  seems  a  thread  of  purpose 
through  the  least  significant;  the  drowsiest  endeavour 
is  not  lost,  and  even  the  school  at  Hatiheu  may  be  more 
useful  than  it  seems. 

Hatiheu  is  a  place  of  some  pretensions.  The  end  of 
the  bay  towards  Anaho  may  be  called  the  civil  com- 
pound, for  it  boasts  the  house  of  Kooamua,  and  close 
on  the  beach,  under  a  great  tree,  that  of  the  gendarme, 
M.  Armand  Aussel,  with  his  garden,  his  pictures,  his 
books,  and  his  excellent  table,  to  which  strangers  are 
made  welcome.  No  more  singular  contrast  possible 
than  between  the  gendarmerie  and  the  priesthood,  who 
are  besides  in  smouldering  opposition  and  full  of  mu- 
tual complaints.  A  priest's  kitchen  in  the  eastern  islands 
is  a  depressing  spot  to  see;  and  many,  or  most  of  them, 
make  no  attempt  to  keep  a  garden,  sparsely  subsisting 
on  their  rations.  But  you  will  never  dine  with  a  gen- 
darme without  smacking  your  lips;  and  M.  Aussel's 
home-made  sausage  and  the  salad  from  his  garden  are 
unforgotten  delicacies.  Pierre  Loti  may  like  to  know 
that  he  is  M.  Aussel's  favourite  author,  and  that  his 
books  are  read  in  the  fit  scenery  of  Hatiheu  bay. 

The  other  end  is  all  religious.  It  is  here  that  an  over- 
hanging and  tip-tilted  horn,  a  good  sea-mark  for  Hati- 
heu, bursts  naked  from  the  verdure  of  the  climbing 
forest,  and  breaks  down  shoreward  in  steep  taluses  and 
cliffs.     From  the  edge  of  one  of  the  highest,  perhaps 

6i 


TUt  SOUTH    SEAS 

seven  hundred  or  a  thousand  feet  above  the  beach,  a 
Virgin  looks  insignificantly  down,  like  a  poor  lost  doll, 
forgotten  there  by  a  giant  child.  This  laborious  sym- 
bol of  the  Catholics  is  always  strange  to  Protestants; 
we  conceive  with  wonder  that  men  should  think  it 
worth  while  to  toil  so  many  days,  and  clamber  so  much 
about  the  face  of  precipices,  for  an  end  that  makes  us 
smile;  and  yet  1  believe  it  was  the  wise  Bishop  Dardil- 
lon  who  chose  the  place,  and  I  know  that  those  who 
had  a  hand  in  the  enterprise  look  back  with  pride  upon 
its  vanquished  dangers.  The  boys'  school  is  a  recent 
importation;  it  was  at  first  in  Tai-o-hae,  beside  the 
girls' ;  and  it  was  only  of  late,  after  their  joint  escapade, 
that  the  width  of  the  island  was  interposed  between 
the  sexes.  But  Hatiheu  must  have  been  a  place  of  mis- 
sionary importance  from  before.  About  midway  of  the 
beach  no  less  than  three  churches  stand  grouped  in  a 
patch  of  bananas,  intermingled  with  some  pine-apples. 
Two  are  of  wood:  the  original  church,  now  in  disuse; 
and  a  second  that,  for  some  mysterious  reason,  has  never 
been  used.  The  new  church  is  of  stone,  with  twin 
towers,  walls  flangeing  into  buttresses,  and  sculptured 
front.  The  design  itself  is  good,  simple,  and  shapely; 
but  the  character  is  all  in  the  detail,  where  the  architect 
has  bloomed  into  the  sculptor,  it  is  impossible  to  tell 
in  words  of  the  angels  (although  they  are  more  like 
winged  archbishops)  that  stand  guard  upon  the  door, 
of  the  cherubs  in  the  corners,  of  the  scapegoat  gar- 
goyles, or  the  quaint  and  spirited  relief,  where  Michael 
(the  artist's  patron)  makes  short  work  of  a  protesting 
Lucifer.  We  were  never  weary  of  viewing  the  imag- 
ery, so  innocent,  sometimes  so  funny,  and  yet  in  the 

t)2 


HATIHEU 

best  sense  —  in  the  sense  of  inventive  gusto  and  expres- 
sion—  so  artistic.  I  know  not  whetiier  it  was  more 
strange  to  find  a  building  of  such  merit  in  a  corner  of  a 
barbarous  isle,  or  to  see  a  building  so  antique  still  bright 
with  novelty.  The  architect,  a  French  lay  brother,  still 
alive  and  well,  and  meditating  fresh  foundations,  must 
have  surely  drawn  his  descent  from  a  master-builder  in 
the  age  of  the  cathedrals;  and  it  was  in  looking  on  the 
church  of  Hatiheu  that  I  seemed  to  perceive  the  secret 
charm  of  mediaeval  sculpture;  that  combination  of  the 
childish  courage  of  the  amateur,  attempting  all  things, 
like  the  schoolboy  on  his  slate,  with  the  manly  perse- 
verance of  the  artist  who  does  not  know  when  he  is 
conquered. 

1  had  always  afterwards  a  strong  wish  to  meet  the 
architect.  Brother  Michel;  and  one  day,  when  1  was 
talking  with  the  Resident  in  Tai-o-hae  (the  chief  port 
of  the  island),  there  were  shown  in  to  us  an  old,  worn, 
purblind,  ascetic-looking  priest,  and  a  lay  brother,  a 
type  of  all  that  is  most  sound  in  France,  with  a  broad, 
clever,  honest,  humorous  countenance,  an  eye  very  large 
and  bright,  and  a  strong  and  healthy  body  inclining  to 
obesity.  But  that  his  blouse  was  black  and  his  face 
shaven  clean,  you  might  pick  such  a  man  to-day,  toil- 
ing cheerfully  in  his  own  patch  of  vines,  from  half  a 
dozen  provinces  of  France;  and  yet  he  had  always  for 
me  a  haunting  resemblance  to  an  old  kind  friend  of  my 
boyhood,  whom  I  name  in  case  any  of  my  readers 
should  share  with  me  that  memory — Dr.  Paul,  of  the 
West  Kirk.  Almost  at  the  first  word  I  was  sure  it  was 
my  architect,  and  in  a  moment  we  were  deep  in  a  dis- 
cussion of  Hatiheu  church.     Brother  Michel  spoke  al- 

03 


THE    SOUTH   SEAS 

ways  of  his  labours  with  a  twinkle  of  humor,  under- 
lying which  it  was  possible  to  spy  a  serious  pride,  and 
the  change  from  one  to  another  was  often  very  human 
and  diverting.  "  Et  vos  gargouilles  moyen-dge,"  cried 
I;  " comme  elles  sont  originates !  "  "Kcst-ce  pas? 
ElUs  sont  Men  drotcs!  "  he  said,  smiling  broadly;  and 
the  next  moment,  with  a  sudden  gravity:  "  Cependant 
it  y  en  a  une  qui  a  une  patte  de  casse;  it  f ant  que  je 
voie  cela."  I  asked  if  he  had  any  model  —  a  point  we 
much  discussed.  'Wo;/, "said  he  simply;  "  c' est  une 
e'gtise  idiate. ' '  The  relievo  was  his  favourite  perform- 
ance, and  very  justly  so.  The  angels  at  the  door,  he 
owned,  he  would  like  to  destroy  and  replace.  "  Its 
n'ont pas  de  vie,  its  manquent  de  vie.  t^ous  devriei  voir 
mon  e'gtise  a  ta  Dominique  ;  j'ai  ta  une  vierge  qui  est 
vraiment  gentitle.  "  "Ah,"  1  cried,  "they  told  me  you 
had  said  you  would  never  build  another  church,  and  1 
wrote  in  my  journal  1  could  not  believe  it."  "Qui, 
j'aimerais  bien  en  faire  une  autre,  "  he  confessed,  and 
smiled  at  the  confession.  An  artist  will  understand 
how  much  I  was  attracted  by  this  conversation.  There 
is  no  bond  so  near  as  a  community  in  that  unaffected 
interest  and  slightly  shamefaced  pride  which  mark  the 
intelligent  man  enamoured  of  an  art.  He  sees  the  limi- 
tations of  his  aim,  the  defects  of  his  practice;  he  smiles 
to  be  so  employed  upon  the  shores  of  death,  yet  sees  in 
his  own  devotion  something  worthy.  Artists,  if  they 
had  the  same  sense  of  humor  with  the  Augurs,  would 
smile  like  them  on  meeting,  but  the  smile  would  not 
be  scornful. 

I   had  occasion  to  see  much  of  this  excellent  man. 
He  sailed  with  us  from  Tai-o-hae  to  Hiva-oa,  a  dead 

04 


HATIHEU 

beat  of  ninety  miles  against  a  heavy  sea.  It  was  what 
is  called  a  good  passage,  and  a  feather  in  the  Casco's 
cap;  but  among  the  most  miserable  forty  hours  that 
any  one  of  us  had  ever  passed.  We  were  swung  and 
tossed  together  all  that  time  like  shot  in  a  stage  thun- 
der-box. The  mate  was  thrown  down  and  had  his 
head  cut  open;  the  captain  was  sick  on  deck;  the  cook 
sick  in  the  galley.  Of  all  our  party  only  two  sat  down 
to  dinner.  1  was  one.  1  own  that  1  felt  wretchedly; 
and  1  can  only  say  of  the  other,  who  professed  to  feel 
quite  well,  that  she  fled  at  an  early  moment  from  the 
table.  It  was  in  these  circumstances  that  we  skirted 
the  windward  shore  of  that  indescribable  island  of 
Uapu;  viewing  with  dizzy  eyes  the  coves,  the  capes, 
the  breakers,  the  climbing  forests,  and  the  inaccessible 
stone  needles  that  surmount  the  mountains.  The  place 
persists,  in  a  dark  corner  of  our  memories,  like  a  piece 
of  the  scenery  of  nightmares.  The  end  of  this  distress- 
ful passage,  where  we  were  to  land  our  passengers, 
was  in  a  similar  vein  of  roughness.  The  surf  ran  high 
on  the  beach  at  Taahauku;  the  boat  broached-to  and 
capsized;  and  all  hands  were  submerged.  Only  the 
brother  himself,  who  was  well  used  to  the  experience, 
skipped  ashore,  by  some  miracle  of  agility,  with  scarce 
a  sprinkling.  Thenceforward,  during  our  stay  at 
Hiva-oa,  he  was  our  cicerone  and  patron;  introducing 
us,  taking  us  excursions,  serving  us  in  every  way,  and 
making  himself  daily  more  beloved. 

Michel  Blanc  had  been  a  carpenter  by  trade;  had 
made  money  and  retired,  supposing  his  active  days  quite 
over;  and  it  was  only  when  he  found  idleness  dangerous 
that  he  placed  his  capital  and  acquirements  at  the  ser- 

65 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

vice  of  the  mission.  He  became  their  carpenter,  mason, 
architect,  and  engineer;  added  sculpture  to  his  accom- 
plishments, and  was  famous  for  his  skill  in  gardening. 
He  wore  an  enviable  air  of  having  found  a  port  from  life's 
contentions  and  lying  there  strongly  anchored;  went 
about  his  business  with  a  jolly  simplicity;  complained 
of  no  lack  of  results  —  perhaps  shyly  thinking  his  own 
statuary  result  enough;  and  was  altogether  a  pattern  of 
the  missionary  layman. 


66 


CHAPTER  VIII 


THE    PORT   OF    ENTRY 


The  port  —  the  mart,  the  civil  and  religious  capital  of 
these  rude  islands  —  is  called  Tai-o-hae,  and  lies  strung 
along  the  beach  of  a  precipitous  green  bay  in  Nuka-hiva. 
It  was  midwinter  when  we  came  thither,  and  the 
weather  was  sultry,  boisterous,  and  inconstant.  Now 
the  wind  blew  squally  from  the  land  down  gaps  of 
splintered  precipice;  now,  between  the  sentinel  islets  of 
the  entry,  it  came  in  gusts  from  seaward.  Heavy  and 
dark  clouds  impended  on  the  summits;  the  rain  roared 
and  ceased;  the  scuppers  of  the  mountain  gushed;  and 
the  next  day  we  would  see  the  sides  of  the  amphi- 
theatre bearded  with  white  falls.  Along  the  beach  the 
town  shows  a  thin  file  of  houses,  mostly  white,  and  all 
ensconced  in  the  foliage  of  an  avenue  of  green  puraos;  a 
pier  gives  access  from  the  sea  across  the  belt  of  breakers ; 
to  the  eastward  there  stands,  on  a  projecting  bushy  hill, 
the  old  fort  which  is  now  the  calaboose,  or  prison ;  east- 
ward still,  alone  in  a  garden,  the  Residency  flies  the 
colours  of  France.  Just  off  Calaboose  Hill,  the  tiny 
Government  schooner  rides  almost  permanently  at 
anchor,  marks  eight  bells  in  the  morning  (there  or 
thereabout)  with  the  unfurling  of  her  flag,  and  salutes 
the  setting  sun  with  the  report  of  a  musket. 

Here  dwell  together,  and  share  the  comforts  of  a  club 
67 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

(which  may  be  enumerated  as  a  billiard-board,  absinthe, 
a  map  of  the  world  on  Mercator"s  projection,  and  one  of 
the  most  agreeable  verandahs  in  the  tropics),  a  handful 
of  whites  of  varying  nationality,  mostly  French  officials, 
German  and  Scottish  merchant  clerks,  and  the  agents 
of  the  opium  monopoly.  There  are  besides  three  tav- 
ern-keepers, the  shrewd  Scot  who  runs  the  cotton  gin- 
mill,  two  white  ladies,  and  a  sprinkling  of  people  "  on 
the  beach  "  —  a  South  Sea  expression  for  which  there  is 
no  exact  equivalent.  It  is  a  pleasant  society,  and  a  hos- 
pitable. But  one  man,  who  was  often  to  be  seen  seated 
on  the  logs  at  the  pier-head,  merits  a  word  for  the  sin- 
gularity of  his  history  and  appearance.  Long  ago,  it 
seems,  he  fell  in  love  with  a  native  lady,  a  high  chiefess 
in  Uapu.  She,  on  being  approached,  declared  she  could 
never  marry  a  man  who  was  untattooed;  it  looked  so 
naked;  whereupon,  with  some  greatness  of  soul,  our 
hero  put  himself  in  the  hands  of  the  Tahukus,  and  with 
still  greater,  persevered  until  the  process  was  complete. 
He  had  certainly  to  bear  a  great  expense,  for  the  Tahuku 
will  not  work  without  reward ;  and  certainly  exquisite 
pain.  Kooamua,  high  chief  as  he  was,  and  one  of  the 
old  school,  was  only  part  tattooed ;  he  could  not,  he  told 
us  with  lively  pantomime,  endure  the  torture  to  an  end. 
Our  enamoured  countryman  was  more  resolved ;  he 
was  tattooed  from  head  to  foot  in  the  most  approved 
methods  of  the  art;  and  at  last  presented  himself  before 
his  mistress  a  new  man.  The  fickle  fair  one  could 
never  behold  him  from  that  day  except  with  laughter. 
For  my  part,  1  could  never  see  the  man  without  a  kind 
of  admiration;  of  him  it  might  be  said,  if  ever  of  any, 
that  he  had  loved  not  wisely,  but  too  well. 

68 


THE   PORT   OF    ENTRY 

The  Residency  stands  by  itself,  Calaboose  Hill  screen- 
ing it  from  the  fringe  of  town  along  the  further  bay. 
The  house  is  commodious,  with  wide  verandahs;  all 
day  it  stands  open  back  and  front,  and  the  trade  blows 
copiously  over  its  bare  floors.  On  a  week  day  the  gar- 
den offers  a  scene  of  most  untropical  animation,  half  a 
dozen  convicts  toiling  there  cheerfully  with  spade  and 
barrow,  and  touching  hats  and  smiling  to  the  visitor 
like  old  attached  family  servants.  On  Sunday  these  are 
gone,  and  nothing  to  be  seen  but  dogs  of  all  ranks  and 
sizes  peacefully  slumbering  in  the  shady  grounds;  for 
the  dogs  of  Tai-o-hae  are  very  courtly-minded,  and 
make  the  seat  of  Government  their  promenade  and  place 
of  siesta.  In  front  and  beyond,  a  strip  of  green  down 
loses  itself  in  a  low  wood  of  many  species  of  acacia;  and 
deep  in  the  wood  a  ruinous  wall  encloses  the  cemetery 
of  the  Europeans.  English  and  Scottish  sleep  there,  and 
Scandinavians,  and  French  maitrcs  de  mana'uvrcs  and 
maitrcs  ouvriers:  mingling  alien  dust.  Back  in  the 
woods  perhaps,  the  blackbird,  or  (as  they  call  him 
there)  the  island  nightingale,  will  be  singing  home 
strains;  and  the  ceaseless  requiem  of  the  surf  hangs  on 
the  ear.  I  have  never  seen  a  resting-place  more  quiet; 
but  it  was  a  long  thought  how  far  these  sleepers  had  all 
travelled,  and  from  what  diverse  homes  they  had  set 
forth,  to  lie  here  in  the  end  together. 

On  the  summit  of  its  promontory  hill,  the  calaboose 
stands  all  day  with  doors  and  window-shutters  open  to 
the  trade.  On  my  first  visit  a  dog  was  the  only  guardian 
visible.  He,  indeed,  rose  with  an  attitude  so  menacing 
that  1  was  glad  to  lay  hands  on  an  old  barrel-hoop;  and 
1  think  the  weapon  must  have  been  familiar,  for  the 

69 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

chiimpion  instantly  retreated,  and  as  I  wandered  round 
the  court  and  through  the  building,  1  could  see  him, 
with  a  couple  of  companions,  humbly  dodging  me 
about  the  corners.  The  prisoners'  dormitory  was  a  spa- 
cious, airy  room,  devoid  of  any  furniture;  its  white- 
washed walls  covered  with  inscriptions  in  Marquesan 
and  rude  drawings:  one  of  the  pier,  not  badly  done; 
one  of  a  murder;  several  of  French  soldiers  in  uniform. 
There  was  one  legend  in  French:  "  Je  Ji'cst"  (sic)  "pas 
le  sou.''  From  this  noontide  quietude  it  must  not  be 
supposed  the  prison  was  untenanted ;  the  calaboose  at 
Tai-o-hae  does  a  good  business.  But  some  of  its  occu- 
pants were  gardening  at  the  Residency,  and  the  rest 
were  probably  at  work  upon  the  streets,  as  free  as  our 
scavengers  at  home,  although  not  so  industrious.  On 
the  approach  of  evening  they  would  be  called  in  like 
children  from  play;  and  the  harbour-master  (who  is 
also  the  jailer)  would  go  through  the  form  of  locking 
them  up  until  six  the  next  morning.  Should  a  prisoner 
have  any  call  in  town,  whether  of  pleasure  or  affairs,  he 
has  but  to  unhook  the  window-shutter;  and  if  he  is  back 
again,  and  the  shutter  decently  replaced,  by  the  hour  of 
call  on  the  morrow,  he  may  have  met  the  harbour- 
master in  the  avenue,  and  there  will  be  no  complaint, 
far  less  any  punishment.  But  this  is  not  all.  The 
charming  French  Resident,  M.  Delaruelle,  carried  me 
one  day  to  the  calaboose  on  an  official  visit.  In  the 
green  court,  a  very  ragged  gentleman,  his  legs  deformed 
with  the  island  elephantiasis,  saluted  us  smiling. 
"One  of  our  political  prisoners — an  insurgent  from  Rai- 
atea,"  said  the  Resident;  and  then  to  the  jailer:  "I 
thought  I  had  ordered  him  a  new  pair  of  trousers." 

70 


THE   PORT   OF   ENTRY 

Meanwhile  no  other  convict  was  to  be  seen  —  "Eh 
bieii,"  said  the  Resident,  "  on  sont  vos  prisouuiers?  " 
"Monsieur  le  Resident,"  replied  the  jailer,  saluting 
with  soldierly  formality,  "  comme  c' est  jour  de  fete,  je 
les  ai  laisse  alter  a  la  chasse. ' '  They  were  all  upon  the 
mountains  hunting  goats!  Presently  we  came  to  the 
quarters  of  the  women,  likewise  deserted  —  "  Ou  sont 
vos  bonnes  femmcs  ?  "  asked  the  Resident;  and  the  jailer 
cheerfully  responded:  "  Je  crois.  Monsieur  le  Resident, 
qu'elles  sont  allees  qiielquepart  faire  tine  visile. ' '  It  had 
been  the  design  of  M.  Delaruelle,  who  was  much  in 
love  with  the  whimsicalities  of  his  small  realm,  to  elicit 
something  comical;  hut  not  even  he  expected  any- 
thing so  perfect  as  the  last.  To  complete  the  picture  of 
convict  life  in  Tai-o-hae,  it  remains  to  be  added  that 
these  criminals  draw  a  salary  as  regularly  as  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Republic.  Ten  sous  a  day  is  their  hire. 
Thus  they  have  money,  food,  shelter,  clothing,  and, 
1  was  about  to  write,  their  liberty.  The  French  are 
certainly  a  good-natured  people,  and  make  easy  mas- 
ters. They  are  besides  inclined  to  view  the  Marquesans 
with  an  eye  of  humorous  indulgence.  "They  are  dy- 
ing, poor  devils!"  said  M.  Delaruelle;  "the  main  thing 
is  to  let  them  die  in  peace."  And  it  was  not  only  well 
said,  but  I  believe  expressed  the  general  thought.  Yet 
there  is  another  element  to  be  considered;  for  these  con- 
victs are  not  merely  useful,  they  are  almost  essential  to 
the  French  existence.  With  a  people  incurably  idle, 
dispirited  by  what  can  only  be  called  endemic  pesti- 
lence, and  inflamed  with  ill-feeling  against  their  new 
masters,  crime  and  convict  labour  are  a  godsend  to 
the  Government. 

7' 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

Theft  is  practically  the  sole  crime.  Originally  petty 
pilferers,  the  men  of  Tai-o-hae  now  begin  to  force  locks 
and  attack  strong-boxes.  Hundreds  of  dollars  have 
been  taken  at  a  time;  though,  with  that  redeeming 
moderation  so  common  in  Polynesian  theft,  the  Mar- 
quesan  burglar  will  always  take  a  part  and  leave  a  part, 
sharing  (so  to  speak)  with  the  proprietor.  If  it  be 
Chilian  coin  —  the  island  currency — he  will  escape;  if 
the  sum  is  in  gold,  French  silver,  or  bank-notes,  the 
police  wait  until  the  money  begins  to  come  in  circula- 
tion, and  then  easily  pick  out  the  man.  And  now 
comes  the  shameful  part.  In  plain  English,  the  pris- 
oner is  tortured  until  he  confesses  and  (if  that  be  pos- 
sible) restores  the  money.  To  keep  him  alone,  day 
and  night,  in  the  black  hole,  is  to  inflict  on  the  Mar- 
quesan  torture  inexpressible.  Even  his  robberies  are 
carried  on  in  the  plain  daylight,  under  the  open  sky, 
with  the  stimulus  of  enterprise,  and  the  countenance 
of  an  accomplice;  his  terror  of  the  dark  is  still  insur- 
mountable; conceive,  then,  what  he  endures  in  his  sol- 
itary dungeon;  conceive  how  he  longs  to  confess,  be- 
come a  full-fledged  convict,  and  be  allowed  to  sleep 
beside  his  comrades.  While  we  were  in  Tai-o-hae  a 
thief  was  under  prevention.  He  had  entered  a  house 
about  eight  in  the  morning,  forced  a  trunk,  and  stolen 
eleven  hundred  francs;  and  now,  under  the  horrors  of 
darkness,  solitude,  and  a  bedevilled  cannibal  imagina- 
tion, he  was  reluctantly  confessing  and  giving  up  his 
spoil.  From  one  cache,  which  he  had  already  pointed 
out,  three  hundred  francs  had  been  recovered,  and  it 
was  expected  that  he  would  presently  disgorge,  the 
rest.     This  would  be  ugly  enough  if  it  were  all;  but 

72 


THE   PORT   OF   ENTRY 

I  am  bound  to  say,  because  it  is  a  matter  the  French 
should  set  at  rest,  that  worse  is  continually  hinted.  I 
heard  that  one  man  was  kept  six  days  with  his  arms 
bound  backward  round  a  barrel;  and  it  is  the  universal 
report  that  every  gendarme  in  the  South  Seas  is 
equipped  with  something  in  the  nature  of  a  thumb- 
screw. I  do  not  know  this.  I  never  had  the  face  to 
ask  any  of  the  gendarmes — pleasant,  intelligent,  and 
kindly  fellows  —  with  whom  I  have  been  intimate,  and 
whose  hospitality  I  have  enjoyed;  and  perhaps  the 
tale  reposes  (as  1  hope  it  does)  on  a  misconstruction  of 
that  ingenious  cat's-cradle  with  which  the  French  agent 
of  police  so  readily  secures  a  prisoner.  But  whether 
physical  or  moral,  torture  is  certainly  employed;  and 
by  a  barbarous  injustice  the  state  of  accusation  (in 
which  a  man  may  very  well  be  innocently  placed)  is 
positively  painful;  the  state  of  conviction  (in  which  all 
are  supposed  guilty)  is  comparatively  free,  and  posi- 
tively pleasant.  Perhaps  worse  still, —  not  only  the 
accused,  but  sometimes  his  wife,  his  mistress,  or  his 
friend,  is  subjected  to  the  same  hardships.  I  was  ad- 
miring, in  the  tapu  system,  the  ingenuity  of  native 
methods  of  detection;  there  is  not  much  to  admire  in 
those  of  the  French,  and  to  lock  up  a  timid  child  in  a 
dark  room,  and,  if  he  prove  obstinate,  lock  up  his  sis- 
ter in  the  next,  is  neither  novel  nor  humane. 

The  main  occasion  of  these  thefts  is  the  new  vice  of 
opium-eating.  "  Here  nobody  ever  works,  and  all  eat 
opium,"  said  a  gendarme;  and  Ah  Fu  knew  a  woman 
who  ate  a  dollar's  worth  in  a  day.  The  successful 
thief  will  give  a  handful  of  money  to  each  of  his  friends, 
a  dress  to  a  woman,  pass  an  evening  in  one  of  the 

73 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

taverns  of  Tni-o-hae,  during  which  he  treats  all  comers, 
produce  a  big  lump  of  opium,  and  retire  to  the  bush 
to  eat  and  sleep  it  off.  A  trader,  who  did  not  sell 
opium,  confessed  to  me  that  he  was  at  his  wit's  end. 
"  1  do  not  sell  it,  but  others  do,"  said  he.  "  The  na- 
tives only  work  to  buy  it;  if  they  walk  over  to  me  to 
sell  their  cotton,  they  have  just  to  walk  over  to  some 
one  else  to  buy  their  opium  with  my  money.  And 
why  should  they  be  at  the  bother  of  two  walks  ? 
There  is  no  use  talking,"  he  added — "opium  is  the 
currency  of  this  country." 

The  man  under  prevention  during  my  stay  at  Tai-o- 
hae  lost  patience  while  the  Chinese  opium-seller  was 
being  examined  in  his  presence.  "  Of  course  he  sold 
me  opium!"  he  broke  out;  "all  the  Chinese  here  sell 
opium,  it  was  only  to  buy  opium  that  1  stole;  it  is 
only  to  buy  opium  that  anybody  steals.  And  what  you 
ought  to  do  is  to  let  no  opium  come  here,  and  no  China- 
men." This  is  precisely  what  is  done  in  Samoa  by  a 
native  Government;  but  the  French  have  bound  their 
own  hands,  and  for  forty  thousand  francs  sold  native 
subjects  to  crime  and  death.  This  horrid  traffic  may 
be  said  to  have  sprung  up  by  accident.  It  was  Captain 
Hart  who  had  the  misfortune  to  be  the  means  of  begin- 
ning it,  at  a  time  when  his  plantations  flourished  in  the 
Marquesas,  and  he  found  a  difficulty  in  keeping  Chi- 
nese coolies.  To-day  the  plantations  are  practically  de- 
serted and  the  Chinese  gone;  but  in  the  meanwhile  the 
natives  have  learned  the  vice,  the  patent  brings  in  a 
round  sum,  and  the  needy  Government  at  Papeete  shut 
their  eyes  and  open  their  pockets.  Of  course,  the  pat- 
entee is  supposed  to  sell  to  Chinamen  alone;  equally  of 

74 


THE   F^ORT   OF   ENTRY 

course,  no  one  could  afford  to  pay  forty  thousand  francs 
for  the  privilege  of  supplying  a  scattered  handful  of 
Chinese;  and  every  one  knows  the  truth,  and  all  are 
ashamed  of  it.  French  officials  shake  their  heads  when 
opium  is  mentioned ;  and  the  agents  of  the  farmer  blush 
for  their  employment.  Those  that  live  in  glass  houses 
should  not  throw  stones;  as  a  subject  of  the  British 
crown,  1  am  an  unwilling  shareholder  in  the  largest 
opium  business  under  heaven.  But  the  British  case  is 
highly  complicated;  it  implies  the  livelihood  of  millions; 
and  must  be  reformed,  when  it  can  be  reformed  at  all, 
with  prudence.  This  French  business,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  a  nostrum  and  a  mere  excrescence.  No  native 
industry  was  to  be  encouraged:  the  poison  is  solemnly 
imported.  No  native  habit  was  to  be  considered;  the 
vice  has  been  gratuitously  introduced.  And  no  creature 
profits,  save  the  Government  at  Papeete  —  the  not  very 
enviable  gentlemen  who  pay  them,  and  the  Chinese 
underlings  who  do  the  dirty  work. 


75 


CHAPTER  IX 


THE   HOUSE   OF  TEMOANA 


The  history  of  the  Marquesas  is,  of  late  years,  much 
confused  by  the  coming  and  going  of  the  French.  At 
least  twice  they  have  seized  the  archipelago,  at  least 
once  deserted  it;  and  in  the  meanwhile  the  natives  pur- 
sued almost  without  interruption  their  desultory  canni- 
bal wars.  Through  these  events  and  changing  dynas- 
ties, a  single  considerable  figure  may  be  seen  to  move: 
that  of  the  high  chief,  a  king,  Temoana.  Odds  and 
ends  of  his  history  came  to  my  ears:  how  he  was  at 
first  a  convert  of  the  Protestant  mission ;  how  he  was 
kidnapped  or  exiled  from  his  native  land,  served  as  cook 
aboard  a  whaler,  and  was  shown,  for  small  charge,  in 
English  seaports;  how  he  returned  at  last  to  the  Mar- 
quesas, fell  under  the  strong  and  benign  influence  of 
the  late  bishop,  extended  his  influence  in  the  group, 
was  for  a  while  joint  ruler  with  the  prelate,  and  died  at 
last  the  chief  sup-porter  of  Catholicism  and  the  French. 
His  widow  remains  in  receipt  of  two  pounds  a  month 
from  the  French  Government.  Queen  she  is  usually 
called,  but  in  the  official  almanac  she  figures  as  "  Ma- 
dame yaekebu,  Grande  Chef  esse."  His  son  (natural  or 
adoptive,  1  know  not  which),  Stanislao  Moanatini,  chief 
of  Akaui,  serves  in  Tai-o-hae  as  a  kind  of  Minister  of 

76 


THE    HOUSE   OF  TEMOANA 

Public  Works,  and  the  daughter  of  Stanislao  is  High 
Chiefess  of  the  southern  island  of  Tauata.  These,  then, 
are  the  greatest  folk  of  the  archipelago;  we  thought 
them  also  the  most  estimable.  This  is  the  rule  in  Poly- 
nesia, with  few  exceptions;  the  higher  the  family,  the 
better  the  man  —  better  in  sense,  better  in  manners, 
and  usually  taller  and  stronger  in  body.  A  stranger 
advances  blindfold.  He  scrapes  acquaintance  as  he  can. 
Save  the  tattoo  in  the  Marquesas,  nothing  indicates  the 
difference  of  rank;  and  yet  almost  invariably  we  found, 
after  we  had  made  them,  that  our  friends  were  persons 
of  station.  I  have  said  "usually  taller  and  stronger." 
1  might  have  been  more  absolute, —  over  all  Polynesia, 
and  a  part  of  Micronesia,  the  rule  holds  good;  the  great 
ones  of  the  iSle,  and  even  of  the  village,  are  greater  of 
bone  and  muscle,  and  often  heavier  of  flesh,  than  any 
commoner.  The  usual  explanation  —  that  the  high- 
born child  is  more  industriously  shampooed,  is  prob- 
ably the  true  one.  In  New  Caledonia,  at  least,  where 
the  difference  does  not  exist  or  has  never  been  re- 
marked, the  practice  of  shampooing  seems  to  be  itself 
unknown.  Doctors  would  be  well  employed  in  a  study 
of  the  point. 

Vaekehu  lives  at  the  other  end  of  the  town  from  the 
Residency,  beyond  the  buildings  of  the  mission.  Her 
house  is  on  the  European  plan  :  a  table  in  the  midst  of 
the  chief  room;  photographs  and  religious  pictures  on 
the  wall.  It  commands  to  either  hand  a  charming 
vista:  through  the  front  door,  a  peep  of  green  lawn, 
scurrying  pigs,  the  pendent  fans  of  the  coco-palm  and 
the  splendor  of  the  bursting  surf:  through  the  back, 
mounting    forest    glades   and    coronals  of    precipice. 

77 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

Here,  in  the  strong  thorough-draught,  Her  Majesty  re- 
ceived us  in  a  simple  gown  of  print,  and  with  no  mark 
of  royalty  but  the  exquisite  finish  of  her  tattooed  mit- 
tens, the  elaboration  of  her  manners,  and  the  gentle 
falsetto  in  which  all  the  highly  refined  among  Marque- 
san  ladies  (and  Vaekehu  above  all  others)  delight  to 
sing  their  language.  An  adopted  daughter  interpreted, 
while  we  gave  the  news,  and  rehearsed  by  name  our 
friends  of  Anaho.  As  we  talked,  we  could  see,  through 
the  landward  door,  another  lady  of  the  household  at  her 
toilet  under  the  green  trees;  who  presently,  when  her 
hair  was  arranged,  and  her  hat  wreathed  with  flowers, 
appeared  upon  the  back  verandah  with  gracious  saluta- 
tions. 

Vaekehu  is  very  deaf;  "  merci  "  is  her  only  word  of 
French;  and  1  do  not  know  that  she  seemed  clever.  An 
exquisite,  kind  refinement,  with  a  shade  of  quietism, 
gathered  perhaps  from  the  nuns,  was  what  chiefly 
struck  us.  Or  rather,  upon  that  first  occasion,  we  were 
conscious  of  a  sense  as  of  district-visiting  on  our  part, 
and  reduced  evangelical  gentility  on  the  part  of  our 
hostess.  The  other  impression  followed  after  she  was 
more  at  ease,  and  came  with  Stanislao  and  his  little 
girl  to  dine  on  board  the  disco.  She  had  dressed  for 
the  occasion :  wore  white,  which  very  well  became  her 
strong  brown  face;  and  sat  among  us,  eating  or  smok- 
ing her  cigarette,  quite  cut  off  from  all  society,  or  only 
now  and  then  included  through  the  intermediary  of  her 
son.  It  was  a  position  that  might  have  been  ridiculous, 
and  she  made  it  ornamental;  making  believe  to  hear 
and  to  be  entertained;  her  face,  whenever  she  met  our 
eyes,  lighting  with  the  smile  of  good  society;  her  con- 


THE   HOUSE   OF   TEMOANA 

tributions  to  the  talk,  when  she  made  any,  and  that 
was  seldom,  always  complimentary  and  pleasing.  No 
attention  was  paid  to  the  child,  for  instance,  but  what 
she  remarked  and  thanked  us  for.  Her  parting  with 
each,  when  she  came  to  leave,  was  gracious  and  pretty, 
as  had  been  every  step  of  her  behaviour.  When  Mrs. 
Stevenson  held  out  her  hand  to  say  good-bye,  Vaekehu 
took  it,  held  it,  and  a  moment  smiled  upon  her;  dropped 
it,  and  then,  as  upon  a  kindly  afterthought,  and  with  a 
sort  of  warmth  of  condescension,  held  out  both  hands 
and  kissed  my  wife  upon  both  cheeks.  Given  the 
same  relation  of  years  and  of  rank,  the  thing  would 
have  been  so  done  on  the  boards  of  the  Comedie  Fran- 
faise;  just  so  might  Madame  Brohan  have  warmed  and 
condescended  to  Madame  Broisat  in  the  Marquis  de 
yUlemer.  It  was  my  part  to  accompany  our  guests 
ashore:  when  1  kissed  the  little  girl  good-bye  at  the 
pier  steps,  Vaekehu  gave  a  cry  of  gratification,  reached 
down  her  hand  into  the  boat,  took  mine,  and  pressed 
it  with  that  flattering  softness  which  seems  the  coquetry 
of  the  old  lady  in  every  quarter  of  the  earth.  The  next 
moment  she  had  taken  Stanislao's  arm,  and  they  moved 
off  along  the  pier  in  the  moonlight,  leaving  me  be- 
wildered. This  was  a  queen  of  cannibals ;  she  was  tat- 
tooed from  hand  to  foot,  and  perhaps  the  greatest  mas- 
terpiece of  that  art  now  extant,  so  that  a  while  ago,  be- 
fore she  was  grown  prim,  her  leg  was  one  of  the  sights 
of  Tai-o-hae;  she  had  been  passed  from  chief  to  chief; 
she  had  been  fought  for  and  taken  in  war;  perhaps, 
being  so  great  a  lady,  she  had  sat  on  the  high  place, 
and  throned  it  there,  alone  of  her  sex,  while  the  drums 
were  going  twenty  strong  and  the  priests  carried  up  the 

79 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

bloodstained  baskets  of  long-pig.  And  now  behold 
her,  out  of  that  past  of  violence  and  sickening  feasts, 
step  forth,  in  her  age,  a  quiet,  smooth,  elaborate  old 
lady,  such  as  you  might  find  at  home  (mittened  also, 
but  not  often  so  well  mannered)  in  a  score  of  country 
houses.  Only  Vaekehu's  mittens  were  of  dye,  not  of 
silk;  and  they  had  been  paid  for,  not  in  money,  but  the 
cooked  flesh  of  men.  It  came  in  my  mind  with  a  clap, 
what  she  could  think  of  it  herself,  and  whether  at  heart, 
perhaps,  she  might  not  regret  and  aspire  after  the  bar- 
barous and  stirring  past.  But  when  1  asked  Stanislao  — 
"Ah!"  said  he,  "she  is  content;  she  is  religious,  she 
passes  all  her  days  with  the  sisters." 

Stanislao  (Stanislaos,  with  the  final  consonant  evaded 
after  the  Polynesian  habit)  was  sent  by  Bishop  Dordil- 
lon  to  South  America,  and  there  educated  by  the  fothers. 
His  French  is  fluent,  his  talk  sensible  and  spirited,  and 
in  his  capacity  of  ganger-in-chief,  he  is  of  excellent  ser- 
vice to  the  French.  With  the  prestige  of  his  name  and 
family,  and  with  the  stick  when  needful,  he  keeps  the 
natives  working  and  the  roads  passable.  Without  Sta- 
nislao and  the  convicts,  I  am  in  doubt  what  would 
become  of  the  present  regimen  in  Nuka-hiva;  whether 
the  highways  might  not  be  suffered  to  close  up,  the 
pier  to  wash  away,  and  the  Residency  to  fall  piecemeal 
about  the  ears  of  impotent  officials.  And  yet  though 
the  hereditary  favourer,  and  one  of  the  chief  props  of 
French  authority,  he  has  always  an  eye  upon  the  past. 
He  showed  me  where  the  old  public  place  had  stood, 
still  to  be  traced  by  random  piles  of  stone  ;  told  me  how 
great  and  fine  it  was,  and  surrounded  on  all  sides  by 
populous  houses,  whence,  at  the  beating  of  the  drums, 

80 


THE   HOUSE   OF  TEMOANA 

the  folk  crowded  to  make  holiday.  The  drum-beat  of 
the  Polynesian  has  a  strange  and  gloomy  stimulation 
for  the  nerves  of  all.  White  persons  feel  it  —  at  these 
precipitate  sounds  their  hearts  beat  faster;  and,  accord- 
ing to  old  residents,  its  effect  on  the  natives  was  ex- 
treme. Bishop  Dordillon  might  entreat;  Temoana 
himself  command  and  threaten ;  at  the  note  of  the  drum 
wild  instincts  triumphed.  And  now  it  might  beat  upon 
these  ruins,  and  who  should  assemble  ?  The  houses 
are  down,  the  people  dead,  their  lineage  extinct;  and 
the  sweepings  and  fugitives  of  distant  bays  and  islands 
encamp  upon  their  graves.  The  decline  of  the  dance 
Stanislao  especially  laments.  "  Chaque  pays  a  ses  coit- 
tinncs,"  said  he;  but  in  the  report  of  any  gendarme, 
perhaps  corruptly  eager  to  increase  the  number  of  ^/^///5 
and  the  instruments  of  his  own  power,  custom  after 
custom  is  placed  on  the  expurgatorial  index.  ''  Tene^, 
une  danse  qui  n'&st pas  permise,"  said  Stanislao :  '"Je  ne 
sals  pas  pourqiioi,  elle  est  tres  jolie,  elle  va  comme  fd," 
and  sticking  his  umbrella  upright  in  the  road,  he  sketched 
the  steps  and  gestures.  All  his  criticisms  of  the  present, 
all  his  regrets  for  the  past,  struck  me  as  temperate  and 
sensible.  The  short  term  of  office  of  the  Resident  he 
thought  the  chief  defect  of  the  administration;  that  of- 
ficer having  scarce  begun  to  be  efficient  ere  he  was 
recalled.  1  thought  1  gathered,  too,  that  he  regarded 
with  some  fear  the  coming  change  from  a  naval  to  a  civil 
governor.  1  am  sure  at  least  that  I  regard  it  so  myself; 
for  the  civil  servants  of  France  have  never  appeared  to 
any  foreigner  as  at  all  the  flower  of  their  country,  while 
her  naval  officers  may  challenge  competition  with  the 
world.    In  all  his  talk,  Stanislao  was  particular  to  speak 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

of  his  own  country  as  a  land  of  savages;  and  when  he 
stated  an  opinion  of  his  own,  it  was  with  some  apolo- 
getic preface,  alleging  that  he  was  "a  savage  who  had 
travelled. "  There  was  a  deal,  in  this  elaborate  modesty, 
of  honest  pride.  Yet  there  was  something  in  the  pre- 
caution that  saddened  me;  and  I  could  not  but  fear  he 
was  only  forestalling  a  taunt  that  he  had  heard  too  often. 
I  recall  with  interest  two  interviews  with  Stanislao. 
The  first  was  a  certain  afternoon  of  tropic  rain,  which 
we  passed  together  in  the  verandah  of  the  club;  talking 
at  times  with  heightened  voices  as  the  showers  re- 
doubled overhead,  passing  at  times  into  the  billiard- 
room,  to  consult,  in  the  dim,  cloudy  daylight,  that  map 
of  the  world  which  forms  its  chief  adornment.  He  was 
naturally  ignorant  of  English  history,  so  that  I  had  much 
of  news  to  communicate.  The  story  of  Gordon  I  told 
him  in  full,  and  many  episodes  of  the  Indian  Mutiny, 
Lucknow,  the  second  battle  of  Cawnpore,  the  relief  of 
Arrah,  the  death  of  poor  Spottiswoode,  and  Sir  Hugh 
Rose's  hotspur,  midland  campaign.  He  was  intent  to 
hear;  his  brown  face,  strongly  marked  with  small-pox, 
kindled  and  changed  with  each  vicissitude.  His  eyes 
glowed  with  the  reflected  light  of  battle;  his  questions 
were  many  and  intelligent,  and  it  was  chiefly  these  that 
sent  us  so  often  to  the  map.  But  it  is  of  our  parting 
that  1  keep  the  strongest  sense.  We  were  to  sail  on 
the  morrow,  and  the  night  had  fallen,  dark,  gusty,  and 
rainy,  when  we  stumbled  up  the  hill  to  bid  farewell  to 
Stanislao.  He  had  already  loaded  us  with  gifts;  but 
more  were  waiting.  We  sat  about  the  table  over  cigars 
and  green  cocoa-nuts;  claps  of  wind  blew  through  the 
house  and  extinguished  the  lamp,  which  was  always 

82 


THE    HOUSE   OF   THMOANA 

instantly  relighted  with  a  single  match;  and  these  re- 
current intervals  of  darkness  were  felt  as  a  relief  For 
there  was  something  painful  and  embarrassing  in  the 
kindness  of  that  separation.  "Ah,  voiis  devriei  raster 
ici,  mon  cher  ami!"  cried  Stanislao.  '' Voivs  etcs  Ics 
gens  qii ' il  f ant  pour  Ics  Kanaques;  voiis  etes  doux,  votis 
et votre  famille;  voiis  serie^  obeis  dans  toutes  Ics  tics." 
We  had  been  civil;  not  always  that,  my  conscience 
told  me,  and  never  anything  beyond;  and  all  this  to-do 
is  a  measure,  not  of  our  considerateness,  but  of  the  want 
of  it  in  others.  The  rest  of  the  evening,  on  to  Vakehu's 
and  back  as  far  as  to  the  pier,  Stanislao  walked  with 
my  arm  and  sheltered  me  with  his  umbrella;  and  after 
the  boat  had  put  off,  we  could  still  distinguish,  in  the 
murky  darkness,  his  gestures  of  farewell.  His  words, 
if  there  were  any,  were  drowned  by  the  rain  and  the 
loud  surf. 

I  have  mentioned  presents,  a  vexed  question  in  the 
South  Seas;  and  one  which  well  illustrates  the  com- 
mon, ignorant  habit  of  regarding  races  in  a  lump.  In 
many  quarters  the  Polynesian  gives  only  to  receive. 
I  have  visited  islands  where  the  population  mobbed  me 
for  all  the  world  like  dogs  after  the  waggon  of  cat's- 
meat;  and  where  the  frequent  proposition,  "You  my 
pleni  (friend),"  or  (with  more  of  pathos)  "You  all  'e 
same  my  fiither,"  must  be  received  with  hearty  laugh- 
ter and  a  shout.  And  perhaps  everywhere,  among  the 
greedy  and  rapacious,  a  gift  is  regarded  as  a  sprat  to 
catch  a  whale.  It  is  the  habit  to  give  gifts  and  to 
receive  returns,  and  such  characters,  complying  with 
the  custom,  will  look  to  it  nearly  that  they  do  not  lose. 
But  for  persons  of  a  different  stamp  the  statement  must 

83 


THH  SOUTH   SEAS 

be  reversed.  The  shabby  Polynesian  is  anxious  till  he 
has  received  the  return  gift;  the  generous  is  uneasy 
until  he  has  made  it.  The  first  is  disappointed  if  you 
have  not  given  more  than  he;  the  second  is  miserable 
if  he  thinks  he  has  given  less  than  you.  This  is  my 
experience;  if  it  clash  with  that  of  others,  I  pity  their 
fortune,  and  praise  mine:  the  circumstance  cannot 
change  what  I  have  seen,  nor  lessen  what  1  have  re- 
ceived. And  indeed  I  find  that  those  who  oppose  me 
often  argue  from  a  ground  of  singular  presumptions; 
comparing  Polynesians  with  an  ideal  person,  compact 
of  generosity  and  gratitude,  whom  1  never  had  the 
pleasure  of  encountering;  and  forgetting  that  what  is 
almost  poverty  to  us  is  wealth  almost  unthinkable  to 
them.  I  will  give  one  instance:  I  chanced  to  speak  with 
consideration  of  these  gifts  of  Stanislao's  with  a  certain 
clever  man,  a  great  hater  and  contemner  of  Kanakas. 
"Well!  what  were  they  .^ "  he  cried.  "A  pack  of  old 
men's  beards.  Trash!"  And  the  same  gentleman,  some 
half  an  hour  later,  being  upon  a  different  train  of 
thought,  dwelt  at  length  on  the  esteem  in  which  the 
Marquesans  held  that  sort  of  property,  how  they  pre- 
ferred it  to  all  others  except  land,  and  what  fancy  prices 
it  would  fetch.  Using  his  own  figures,  I  computed  that, 
in  this  commodity  alone,  the  gifts  of  Vaekehu  and 
Stanislao  represented  between  two  and  three  hundred 
dollars;  and  the  queen's  official  salary  is  of  two  hun- 
dred and  forty  in  the  year. 

But  generosity  on  the  one  hand,  and  conspicuous 
meanness  on  the  other,  are  in  the  South  Seas,  as  at 
home,  the  exception.  It  is  neither  with  any  hope  of 
gain,  nor  with  any  lively  wish  to  please,  that  the  ordi- 

84 


THE   HOUSE   OF   TEMOANA 

nary  Polynesian  chooses  and  presents  his  gifts.  A  plain 
social  duty  lies  before  him,  which  he  performs  correctly, 
but  without  the  least  enthusiasm.  And  we  shall  best 
understand  his  attitude  of  mind,  if  we  examine  our  own 
to  the  cognate  absurdity  of  marriage  presents.  There 
we  give  without  any  special  thought  of  a  return;  yet  if 
the  circumstance  arise,  and  the  return  be  withheld,  we 
shall  judge  ourselves  insulted.  We  give  them  usually 
without  affection,  and  almost  never  with  a  genuine  de- 
sire to  please;  and  our  gift  is  rather  a  mark  of  our  own 
status  than  a  measure  of  our  love  to  the  recipients.  So 
in  a  great  measure  and  with  the  common  run  of  the 
Polynesians:  their  gifts  are  formal;  they  imply  no  more 
than  social  recognition;  and  they  are  made  and  recipro- 
cated, as  we  pay  and  return  our  morning  visits.  And 
the  practice  of  marking  and  measuring  events  and  senti- 
ments by  presents  is  universal  in  the  island  world.  A 
gift  plays  with  them  the  part  of  stamp  and  seal;  and 
has  entered  profoundly  into  the  mind  of  islanders. 
Peace  and  war,  marriage,  adoption  and  naturalisation, 
are  celebrated  or  declared  by  the  acceptance  or  the  re- 
fusal of  gifts;  and  it  is  as  natural  for  the  islander  to 
bring  a  gift  as  for  us  to  carry  a  card-case. 


85 


CHAPTER  X 


A   PORTRAIT   AND   A   STORY 


I  HAVE  had  occasion  several  times  to  name  the  late 
bishop,  Father  Dordillon,  "  Monseigneur,"  as  he  is  still 
almost  universally  called,  Vicar-Apostolic  of  the  Mar- 
quesas and  Bishop  of  Cambysopolis  inpartibiis.  Every- 
where in  the  islands,  among  all  classes  and  races,  this 
fine,  old,  kindly,  cheerful  fellow  is  remembered  with 
afifection  and  respect.  His  influence  with  the  natives 
was  paramount.  They  reckoned  him  the  highest  of 
men  —  higher  than  an  admiral;  brought  him  their  money 
to  keep;  took  his  advice  upon  their  purchases;  nor 
would  they  plant  trees  upon  their  own  land  till  they 
had  the  approval  of  the  father  of  the  islands.  During 
the  time  of  the  French  exodus  he  singly  represented 
Europe,  living  in  the  Residency,  and  ruling  by  the  hand 
of  Temoana.  The  first  roads  were  made  under  his  aus- 
pices and  by  his  persuasion.  The  old  road  between 
Hatiheu  and  Anaho  was  got  under  way  from  either  side 
on  the  ground  that  it  would  be  pleasant  for  an  evening 
promenade,  and  brought  to  completion  by  working  on 
the  rivalry  of  the  two  villages.  The  priest  would  boast 
in  Hatiheu  of  the  progress  made  in  Anaho,  and  he  would 
tell  the  folk  of  Anaho,  "  If  you  don't  take  care,  your 
neighbours  will  be  over  the  hill  before  you  are  at  the 

S6 


A    PORTRAIT   AND    A   STORY 

top."  It  could  not  be  so  done  to-day;  it  could  then; 
death,  opium,  and  depopulation  had  not  gone  so  far; 
and  the  people  of  Hatiheu,  1  was  told,  still  vied  with 
each  other  in  fine  attire,  and  used  to  go  out  by  families, 
in  the  cool  of  the  evening,  boat-sailing  and  racing  in  the 
bay.  There  seems  some  truth  at  least  in  the  common 
view,  that  this  joint  reign  of  Temoana  and  the  bishop 
was  the  last  and  brief  golden  age  of  the  Marquesas. 
But  the  civil  power  returned,  the  mission  was  packed 
out  of  the  Residency  at  twenty-four  hours'  notice,  new 
methods  supervened,  and  the  golden  age  (whatever  it 
quite  was)  came  to  an  end.  It  is  the  strongest  proof  of 
Father  Dordillon's  prestige  that  it  survived,  seemingly 
without  loss,  this  hasty  deposition. 

His  method  with  the  natives  was  extremely  mild. 
Among  these  barbarous  children  he  still  played  the 
part  of  the  smiling  father;  and  he  was  careful  to  ob- 
serve, in  all  indifferent  matters,  the  Marquesan  etiquette. 
Thus,  in  the  singular  system  of  artificial  kinship,  the 
bishop  had  been  adopted  by  Vaekehu  as  a  grandson; 
Miss  Fisher,  of  Hatiheu,  as  a  daughter.  From  that 
day,  Monseigneur  never  addressed  the  young  lady  ex- 
cept as  his  mother,  and  closed  his  letters  with  the  for- 
malities of  a  dutiful  son.  With  Europeans  he  could  be 
strict,  even  to  the  extent  of  harshness.  He  made  no 
distinction  against  heretics,  with  whom  he  was  on 
friendly  terms;  but  the  rules  of  his  own  Church  he 
would  see  observed;  and  once  at  least  he  had  a  white 
man  clapped  in  jail  for  the  desecration  of  a  saint's  day. 
But  even  this  rigor,  so  intolerable  to  laymen,  so  irri- 
tating to  Protestants,  could  not  shake  his  popularity. 
We  shall  best  conceive  him  by  examples  nearer  home; 

87 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

we  may  all  have  known  some  divine  of  the  old  school 
in  Scotland,  a  liberal  Sabbatarian,  a  stickler  for  the  let- 
ter of  the  law,  who  was  yet  in  private  modest,  inno- 
cent, genial,  and  mirthful.  Much  such  a  man,  it  seems, 
was  Father  Dordillon.  And  his  popularity  bore  a  test 
yet  stronger.  He  had  the  name,  and  probably  deserved 
it,  of  a  shrewd  man  in  business  and  one  that  made  the 
mission  pay.  Nothing  so  much  stirs  up  resentment  as 
the  inmixture  in  commerce  of  religious  bodies;  but 
even  rival  traders  spoke  well  of  Monseigneur. 

His  character  is  best  portrayed  in  the  story  of  the 
days  of  his  decline.  A  time  came  when,  from  the 
failure  of  sight,  he  must  desist  from  his  literary  labours; 
his  Marquesan  hymns,  grammars,  and  dictionaries;  his 
scientific  papers,  lives  of  saints,  and  devotional  poetry. 
He  cast  about  for  a  new  interest:  pitched  on  gardening, 
and  was  to  be  seen  all  day,  with  spade  and  waterpot, 
in  his  childlike  eagerness,  actually  running  between 
the  borders.  Another  step  of  decay,  and  he  must  leave 
his  garden  also.  Instantly  a  new  occupation  was  de- 
vised, and  he  sat  in  the  mission  cutting  paper  flowers 
and  wreaths.  His  diocese  was  not  great  enough  for 
his  activity;  the  churches  of  the  Marquesas  were  pa- 
pered with  his  handiwork,  and  still  he  must  be  making 
more.  "  Ah,"  said  he,  smiling,  "  when  1  am  dead  what 
a  fine  time  you  will  have  clearing  out  my  trash!  "  He 
had  been  dead  about  six  months;  but  I  was  pleased  to 
see  some  of  his  trophies  still  exposed,  and  looked  upon 
them  with  a  smile:  the  tribute  (if  1  have  read  his  cheer- 
ful character  aright)  which  he  would  have  preferred  to 
any  useless  tears.  Disease  continued  progressively  to 
disable  him ;  he  who  had  clambered  so  stalwartly  over 


A    PORTRAIT   AND   A   STORY 

the  rude  rocks  of  the  Marquesas,  bringing  peace  to 
warfaring  clans,  was  for  some  time  carried  in  a  chair 
between  the  mission  and  the  church,  and  at  last  con- 
fined to  bed,  impotent  with  dropsy,  and  tormented 
with  bed-sores  and  sciatica.  Here  he  lay  two  months 
without  complaint;  and  on  the  nth  January  1888,  in 
the  seventy-ninth  year  of  his  life,  and  the  thirty-fourth 
of  his  labours  in  the  Marquesas,  passed  away. 

Those  who  have  a  taste  for  hearing  missions,  Protes- 
tant or  Catholic,  decried,  must  seek  their  pleasure  else- 
where than  in  my  pages.  Whether  Catholic  or  Prot- 
estant, with  all  their  gross  blots,  with  all  their  deficiency 
of  candour,  of  humor,  and  of  common  sense,  the  mis- 
sionaries are  the  best  and  the  most  useful  whites  in 
the  Pacific.  This  is  a  subject  which  will  follow  us 
throughout;  but  there  is  one  part  of  it  that  may  conve- 
niently be  treated  here.  The  married  and  the  celibate 
missionary,  each  has  his  particular  advantage  and  de- 
fect. The  married  missionary,  taking  him  at  the  best, 
may  offer  to  the  native  what  he  is  much  in  want  of — 
a  higher  picture  of  domestic  life;  but  the  woman  at  his 
elbow  tends  to  keep  him  in  touch  with  Europe  and 
out  of  touch  with  Polynesia,  and  to  perpetuate,  and 
even  to  ingrain,  parochial  decencies  far  best  forgotten. 
The  mind  of  the  female  missionary  tends,  for  instance, 
to  be  continually  busied  about  dress.  She  can  be 
taught  with  extreme  difficulty  to  think  any  costume 
decent  but  that  to  which  she  grew  accustomed  on 
Clapham  Common;  and  to  gratify  this  prejudice,  the 
native  is  put  to  useless  expense,  his  mind  is  tainted 
with  the  morbidities  of  Europe,  and  his  health  is  set 
in  danger.     The  celibate  missionary,  on  the  other  hand, 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

and  whether  at  best  or  worst,  falls  readily  into  native 
ways  of  life;  to  which  he  adds  too  commonly  what  is 
either  a  mark  of  celibate  man  at  large,  or  an  inheritance 
from  mediaeval  saints  —  I  mean  slovenly  habits  and  an 
unclean  person.  There  are,  of  course,  degrees  in  this; 
and  the  sister  (of  course,  and  all  honour  to  her)  is  as 
fresh  as  a  lady  at  a  ball.  For  the  diet  there  is  nothing 
to  be  said  —  it  must  amaze  and  shock  the  Polynesian  — 
but  for  the  adoption  of  native  habits  there  is  much. 
"  Chaqiie  pays  a  se^s  contiimcs,"  said  Stanislao;  these 
it  is  the  missionary's  delicate  task  to  modify;  and  the 
more  he  can  do  so  from  within,  and  from  a  native 
standpoint,  the  better  he  will  do  his  work;  and  here  I 
think  the  Catholics  have  sometimes  the  advantage;  in 
the  Vicariate  of  Dordillon,  I  am  sure  they  had  it.  I 
have  heard  the  bishop  blamed  for  his  indulgence  to 
the  natives,  and  above  all  because  he  did  not  rage  with 
sufficient  energy  against  cannibalism.  It  was  a  part 
of  his  policy  to  live  among  the  natives  like  an  elder 
brother;  to  follow  where  he  could;  to  lead  where  it 
was  necessary;  never  to  drive;  and  to  encourage  the 
growth  of  new  habits,  instead  of  violently  rooting  up 
the  old.  And  it  might  be  better,  in  the  long-run,  if 
this  policy  were  always  followed. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  native  missionaries  would 
prove  more  indulgent,  but  the  reverse  is  found  to  be 
the  case.  The  new  broom  sweeps  clean ;  and  the  white 
missionary  of  to-day  is  often  embarrassed  by  the  bigotry 
of  his  native  coadjutor.  What  else  should  we  expect  } 
On  some  islands,  sorcery,  polygamy,  human  sacrifice, 
and  tobacco-smoking  have  been  prohibited,  the  dress 
of  the  native  has  been  modified,  and  himself  warned  in 

90 


A    PORTRAIT   AND   A   STORY 

Strong  terms  against  rival  sects  of  Christianity;  all  by 
the  same  man,  at  the  same  period  of  time,  and  with  the 
like  authority.  By  what  criterion  is  the  convert  to  dis- 
tinguish the  essential  from  the  unessential  ?  He  swallows 
the  nostrum  whole;  there  has  been  no  play  of  mind,  no 
instruction,  and,  except  for  some  brute  utility  in  the 
prohibitions,  no  advance.  To  call  things  by  their 
proper  names,  this  is  teaching  superstition.  It  is  unfor- 
tunate to  use  the  word ;  so  few  people  have  read  his- 
tory, and  so  many  have  dipped  into  little  atheistic 
manuals,  that  the  majority  will  rush  to  a  conclusion, 
and  suppose  the  labour  lost.  And  f,ir  from  that:  These 
semi-spontaneous  superstitions,  varying  with  the  sect 
of  the  original  evangelist  and  the  customs  of  the  island, 
are  found  in  practice  to  be  highly  fructifying;  and  in 
particular  those  who  have  learned  and  who  go  forth 
again  to  teach  them  offer  an  example  to  the  world. 
The  best  specimen  of  the  Christian  hero  that  I  ever  met 
was  one  of  these  native  missionaries.  He  had  saved 
two  lives  at  the  risk  of  his  own;  like  Nathan,  he  had 
bearded  a  tyrant  in  his  hour  of  blood ;  when  a  whole 
white  population  fled,  he  alone  stood  to  his  duty;  and 
his  behaviour  under  domestic  sorrow  with  which  the 
public  has  no  concern  filled  the  beholder  with  sym- 
pathy and  admiration.  A  poor  little  smiling  laborious 
man  he  looked ;  and  you  would  have  thought  he  had 
nothing  in  him  but  that  of  which  indeed  he  had  too 
much  —  facile  good-nature.^ 

It  chances  that  the  only  rivals  of  Monseigneur  and  his 
mission  in  the  Marquesas  were  certain  of  these  brown- 

1  The  reference  is  to  Maka,  the  Hawaiian  missionary,  at  Butaritari, 
in  the  Gilberts. 

91 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

skinned  evangelists,  natives  from  Hawaii.  1  know  not 
what  they  thought  of  Father  Dordilion:  they  are  the 
only  class  I  did  not  question;  but  I  suspect  the  prelate 
to  have  regarded  them  askance,  for  he  was  eminently 
human.  During  my  stay  at  Tai-o-hae,  the  time  of  the 
yearly  holiday  came  round  at  the  girls'  school;  and  a 
whole  fleet  of  whale-boats  came  from  Uapu  to  take  the 
daughters  of  that  island  home.  On  board  of  these  was 
Kauwealoha,  one  of  the  pastors,  a  fine,  rugged  old  gen- 
tleman, of  that  leonine  type  so  common  in  Hawaii.  He 
paid  me  a  visit  in  the  Casco,  and  there  entertained  me 
with  a  tale  of  one  of  his  colleagues,  Kekela,  a  mission- 
ary in  the  great  cannibal  isle  of  Hiva-oa.  it  appears 
that  shortly  after  a  kidnapping  visit  from  a  Peruvian 
slaver,  the  boats  of  an  American  whaler  put  into  a  bay 
upon  that  island,  were  attacked,  and  made  their  escape 
with  difficulty,  leaving  their  mate,  a  Mr.  Whalon,  in  the 
hands  of  the  natives.  The  captive,  with  his  arms  bound 
behind  his  back,  was  cast  into  a  house;  and  the  chief 
announced  the  capture  to  Kekela.  And  here  I  begin  to 
follow  the  version  of  Kauwealoha;  it  is  a  good  speci- 
men of  Kanaka  English;  and  the  reader  is  to  conceive 
it  delivered  with  violent  emphasis  and  speaking  panto- 
mime. 

"  'I  got  'Melican  mate,'  the  chief  he  say.  'What 
you  go  do  'Melican  mate  } '  Kekela  he  say.  'I  go  make 
fire,  I  go  kill,  1  go  eat  him,'  he  say;  'you  come  to-mol- 
low  eat  piece.'  'I  no  want  eat  'Melican  mate!'  Ke- 
kela he  say;  'why  you  want.?'  'This  bad  shippee, 
this  slave  shippee,'  the  chief  he  say.  '  One  time  a  ship- 
pee  he  come  from  Pelu,  he  take  away  plenty  Kanaka, 
he  take  away  my  son.    'Melican  mate  he  bad  man.    1  go 

92 


A   PORTRAIT    AND   A   STORY 

eat  him;  you  eat  piece.'  '  I  no  tiV7;//eat 'Melican  mate! ' 
Kekela  he  say;  and  he  cly  —  all  night  he  cly!  To-mol- 
low  Kekela  he  get  up,  he  put  on  blackee  coat,  he  go 
see  chief;  he  see  Missa  Whela,  him  hand  tie'  like  this. 
{Pantomime.)  Kekela  he  cly.  He  say  chief:  —  'Chief, 
you  like  things  of  mine  }  you  like  whale-boat  ? '  '  Yes,' 
he  say.  'You  like  file-a'm.?'  (fire-arms).  'Yes,'  he 
say.  '  You  like  blackee  coat  .f^ '  'Yes,' he  say.  Kekela 
he  take  Missa  Whela  by  he  shoul'a  '  (shoulder),  he  take 
him  light  out  house;  he  give  chief  he  whale-boat,  he 
file-a'm,  he  blackee  coat.  He  take  Missa  Whela  he 
house,  make  him  sit  down  with  he  wife  and  chil'en. 
Missa  Whela  all-the-same  pelison  (prison);  he  wife,  he 
chil'en  in  Amelica;  he  cly — O,  he  cly.  Kekela  he  solly. 
One  day  Kekela  he  see  ship.  {Pantomime.)  He  say 
Missa  Whela,  '  Ma'  Whala } '  Missa  Whela  he  say, 
'Yes.'  Kanaka  they  begin  go  down  beach.  Kekela 
he  get  eleven  Kanaka,  get  oa'  (oars),  get  evely  thing. 
He  say  Missa  Whela,  'Now  you  go  quick.'  They 
jump  in  whale-boat.  '  Now  you  low ! '  Kekela  he  say : 
'you  low  quick,  quick!'  {J/iolent  pantomime,  and  a 
change  indicating  that  the  narrator  has  left  the  boat  and 
returned  to  the  beach.)  All  the  Kanaka  they  say,  '  How ! 
'Melican  mate  he  go  away  ?' — jump  in  boat;  low  afta. 
{Violent pantomime  and  change  again  to  boat.)  Kekela 
he  say,  '  Low  quick! '  " 

Here  I  think  Kauwealoha's  pantomime  had  confused 
me;  I  have  no  more  of  his  ipsissima  verba;  and  can  but 
add,  in  my  own  less  spirited  manner,  that  the  ship  was 
reached,  Mr.  Whalon  taken  aboard,  and  Kekela  returned 
to  his  charge  among  the  cannibals.  But  how  unjust  it 
is  to  repeat  the  stumblings  of  a  foreigner  in  a  language 

93 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

only  partly  ncquired!  A  thoughtless  reader  might  con- 
ceive Kauwealoha  and  his  colleague  to  be  a  species  of 
amicable  baboon ;  but  1  have  here  the  antidote.  In  re- 
turn for  his  act  of  gallant  charity,  Kekela  was  presented 
by  the  American  Government  with  a  sum  of  money, 
and  by  President  Lincoln  personally  with  a  gold  watch. 
From  his  letter  of  thanks,  written  in  his  own  tongue,  I 
give  the  following  extract.  1  do  not  envy  the  man  who 
can  read  it  without  emotion. 

When  I  saw  one  of  your  countrymen,  a  citizen  of  your  great  nation, 
ill-treated,  and  about  to  be  baked  and  eaten,  as  a  pig  is  eaten,  I  ran  to 
save  him,  full  of  pity  and  grief  at  the  evil  deed  of  these  benighted  peo- 
ple. I  gave  my  boat  for  the  stranger's  life.  This  boat  came  from 
James  Hunnewell,  a  gift  of  friendship.  It  became  the  ransom  of  this 
countryman  of  yours,  that  he  might  not  be  eaten  by  the  savages  who 
knew  not  Jehovah.  This  was  Mr.  Whalon,  and  the  date,  Jan.  14, 
1864. 

As  to  this  friendly  deed  of  mine  in  saving  Mr.  Whalon,  its  seed  came 
from  your  great  land,  and  was  brought  by  certain  of  your  countrymen, 
who  had  received  the  love  of  God.  It  was  planted  in  Hawaii,  and  1 
brought  it  to  plant  in  this  land  and  in  these  dark  regions,  that  they 
might  receive  the  root  of  all  that  is  good  and  true,  which  is  love. 

1.  Love  to  Jehovah. 

2.  Love  to  self. 

3.  Love  to  our  neighbour. 

If  a  man  have  a  sufficiency  of  these  three,  he  is  good  and  holy,  like 
his  God,  Jehovah,  in  his  triune  character  (Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost), 
one-three,  three-one.  if  he  have  two  and  wants  one,  it  is  not  well; 
and  if  he  have  one  and  wants  two,  this,  indeed,  is  not  well;  but  if  he 
cherishes  all  three,  then  is  he  holy,  indeed,  after  the  manner  of  the 
Bible. 

This  is  a  great  thing  for  your  great  nation  to  boast  of,  before  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth.  From  your  great  land  a  most  precious  seed  was 
brought  to  the  land  of  darkness.  It  was  planted  here,  not  by  means 
of  guns  and  men-of-war  and  threatenings.     It  was  planted  by  means 

94. 


A   PORTRAIT   AND   A   STORY 

of  the  ignorant,  the  neglected,  the  despised.  Such  was  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  word  of  the  Ahnighty  God  into  this  group  of  Nuuhiwa. 
Great  is  my  debt  to  Americans,  who  have  taught  me  all  things  pertain- 
ing to  this  life  and  to  that  which  is  to  come. 

How  shall  I  repay  your  great  kindness  to  me  ?  Thus  David  asked 
of  Jehovah,  and  thus  1  ask  of  you,  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
This  my  only  payment  —  that  which  I  have  received  of  the  Lord,  love 
— (aloha). 


95 


CHAPTER   XI 

LONG-PIG  —  A   CANNIBAL   HIGH    PLACE 

Nothing  more  strongly  arouses  our  disgust  than  can^ 
nibalism,  nothing  so  surely  unmortars  a  society;  no- 
thing, we  might  plausibly  argue,  will  so  harden  and 
degrade  the  minds  of  those  that  practise  it.  And  yet 
we  ourselves  make  much  the  same  appearance  in  the 
eyes  of  the  Buddhist  and  the  vegetarian.  We  consume 
the  carcases  of  creatures  of  like  appetites,  passions,  and 
organs  with  ourselves;  we  feed  on  babes,  though  not 
our  own;  and  the  slaughter-house  resounds  daily  with 
screams  of  pain  and  fear.  We  distinguish,  indeed;  but 
the  unwillingness  of  many  nations  to  eat  the  dog,  an 
animal  with  whom  we  live  on  terms  of  the  next  in- 
timacy, shows  how  precariously  the  distinction  is 
grounded.  The  pig  is  the  main  element  of  animal  food 
among  the  islands;  and  1  had  many  occasions,  my  mind 
being  quickened  by  my  cannibal  surroundings,  to  ob- 
serve his  character  and  the  manner  of  his  death.  Many 
islanders  live  with  their  pigs  as  we  do  with  our  dogs; 
both  crowd  around  the  hearth  with  equal  freedom; 
and  the  island  pig  is  a  fellow  of  activity,  enterprise, 
and  sense.  He  husks  his  own  cocoa-nuts,  and  (I  am 
told)  rolls  them  into  the  sun  to  burst;  he  is  the  terror 
of  the  shepherd.    Mrs.  Stevenson,  senior,  has  seen  one 

90 


LONG-PiG  — A    CANNIBAL    HIGH    PLACE 

fleeing  to  the  woods  with  a  lamb  in  his  mouth;  and 
I  saw  another  come  rapidly  (and  erroneously)  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  disco  was  going  down,  and  swim 
through  the  flush  water  to  the  rail  in  search  of  an 
escape.  It  was  told  us  in  childhood  that  pigs  cannot 
swim;  1  have  known  one  to  leap  overboard,  sv/im  five 
hundred  vards  to  shore,  and  return  to  the  house  of  his 
original  owner.  I  was  once,  at  Tautira,  a  pig-master 
on  a  considerable  scale;  at  first,  in  my  pen,  the  utmost 
good  feeling  prevailed;  a  little  sow  with  a  belly-ache 
came  and  appealed  to  us  for  help  in  the  manner  of  a 
child ;  and  there  was  one  shapely  black  boar,  whom 
we  called  Catholicus,  for  he  was  a  particular  present 
from  the  Catholics  of  the  village,  and  who  early  dis- 
played the  marks  of  courage  and  friendliness;  no  other 
animal,  whether  dog  or  pig,  was  suffered  to  approach 
him  at  his  food,  and  for  human  beings  he  showed  a 
full  measure  of  that  toadying  fondness,  so  common  in 
the  lower  animals,  and  possibly  their  chief  title  to  the 
name.  One  day,  on  visiting  my  piggery,  I  was  amazed 
to  see  Catholicus  draw  back  from  my  approach  with 
cries  of  terror;  and  if  1  was  amazed  at  the  change,  1 
was  truly  embarrassed  when  I  learnt  its  reason.  One 
of  the  pigs  had  been  that  morning  killed;  Catholicus 
had  seen  the  murder,  he  had  discovered  he  was  dwell- 
ing in  the  shambles,  and  from  that  time  his  confidence 
and  his  delight  in  life  were  ended.  We  still  reserved 
him  a  long  while,  but  he  could  not  endure  the  sight  of 
any  two-legged  creature,  nor  could  we,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, encounter  his  eye  without  confusion.  1 
have  assisted  besides,  by  the  ear,  at  the  act  of  butchery 
itself;  the  victim's  cries  of  pain  1  think  1  could  have 

97 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

borne,  but  the  execution  was  mismanaged,  and  his 
expression  of  terror  was  contagious:  that  small  heart 
moved  to  the  same  tune  with  ours.  Upon  such  "  dread 
foundations"  the  life  of  the  European  reposes,  and  yet 
the  European  is  among  the  less  cruel  of  races.  The 
paraphernalia  of  murder,  the  preparatorty  brutalities  of 
his  existence,  are  all  hid  away;  an  extreme  sensibility 
reigns  upon  the  surface;  and  ladies  will  faint  at  the  re- 
cital of  one  tithe  of  what  they  daily  expect  of  their 
butchers.  Some  will  be  even  crying  out  upon  me  in 
their  hearts  for  the  coarseness  of  this  paragraph.  And 
so  with  the  island  cannibals.  They  were  not  cruel; 
apart  from  this  custom,  they  are  a  race  of  the  most 
kindly;  rightly  speaking,  to  cut  a  man's  flesh  after  he 
is  dead  is  far  less  hateful  than  to  oppress  him  whilst  he 
lives;  and  even  the  victims  of  their  appetite  were  gently 
used  in  life  and  suddenly  and  painlessly  despatched  at 
last.  In  island  circles  of  refinement  it  was  doubtless 
thought  bad  taste  to  expatiate  on  what  was  ugly  in  the 
practice. 

Cannibalism  is  traced  from  end  to  end  of  the  Pacific, 
from  the  Marquesas  to  New  Guinea,  from  New  Zealand 
to  Hawaii,  here  in  the  lively  haunt  of  its  exercise,  there 
by  scanty  but  significant  survivals.  Hawaii  is  the  most 
doubtful.  We  find  cannibalism  chronicled  in  Hawaii, 
only  in  the  history  of  a  single  war,  where  it  seems  to 
have  been  thought  exceptional,  as  in  the  case  of  moun- 
tain outlaws,  such  as  fell  by  the  hand  of  Theseus.  In 
Tahiti,  a  single  circumstance  survived,  but  that  appears 
conclusive.  In  historic  times,  when  human  oblation 
was  made  in  the  marae,  the  eyes  of  the  victim  were 
formally  offered  to  the  chief:  a  delicacy  to  the  leading 


LONG-PIG  — A    CANNIBAL    HIGH    PLACE 

guest.  All  Melanesia  appears  tainted.  In  Micronesia, 
in  the  Marshalls,  with  which  my  acquaintance  is  no 
more  than  that  of  a  tourist,  I  could  find  no  trace  at  all; 
and  even  in  the  Gilbert  zone  I  long  looked  and  asked  in 
vain.  I  was  told  tales  indeed  of  men  who  had  been 
eaten  in  a  famine;  but  these  were  nothing  to  my  pur- 
pose, for  the  same  thing  is  done  under  the  same  stress 
by  all  kindreds  and  generations  of  men.  At  last,  in 
some  manuscript  notes  of  Dr.  Turner's,  which  1  was 
allowed  to  consult  at  Malua,  I  came  on  one  damning 
evidence:  on  the  island  of  Onoatoa  the  punishment  for 
theft  was  to  be  killed  and  eaten.  How  shall  we  ac- 
count for  the  universality  of  the  practice  over  so  vast  an 
area,  among  people  of  such  varying  civilization,  and, 
with  whatever  intermixture,  of  such  different  blood  ? 
What  circumstance  is  common  to  them  all,  but  that 
they  lived  on  islands  destitute,  or  very  nearly  so,  of  ani- 
mal food  ?  I  can  never  find  it  in  my  appetite  that  man 
was  meant  to  live  on  vegetables  only.  When  our  stores 
ran  low  among  the  islands,  1  grew  to  weary  for  the  re- 
current day  when  economy  allowed  us  to  open  another 
tin  of  miserable  mutton.  And  in  at  least  one  ocean 
language,  a  particular  word  denotes  that  a  man  is 
"hungry  for  fish,"  having  reached  that  stage  when 
vegetables  can  no  longer  satisfy,  and  his  soul,  like  those 
of  the  Hebrews  in  the  desert,  begins  to  lust  after  flesh- 
pots.  Add  to  this  the  evidences  of  over-population 
and  imminent  famine  already  adduced,  and  I  think  we 
see  some  ground  of  indulgence  for  the  island  cannibal. 
It  is  right  to  look  at  both  sides  of  any  question;  but  I 
am  far  from  making  the  apology  of  this  worse  than 
bestial  vice.     The  higher  Polynesian  races,  such  as  the 

99 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

Tahitians,  Hawaiians,  and  Samoans,  had  one  and  all 
outgrown,  and  some  of  them  had  in  part  forgot,  the 
practice,  before  Cook  or  Bougainville  had  shown  a  top- 
sail in  their  waters.  It  lingered  only  in  some  low  islands 
where  life  was  difficult  to  maintain,  and  among  inveterate 
savages  like  the  New  Zealanders  or  the  Marquesans. 
The  Marquesans  intertwined  man-eating  with  the  whole 
texture  of  their  lives;  long-pig  was  in  a  sense  their  cur- 
rency and  sacrament;  it  formed  the  hire  of  the  artist,  il- 
lustrated public  events,  and  was  the  occasion  and  attrac- 
tion of  a  feast.  To-day  they  are  paying  the  penalty  of 
this  bloody  commixture.  The  civil  power,  in  its  cru- 
sade against  man-eating,  has  had  to  examine  one  after 
another  all  Marquesan  arts  and  pleasures,  has  found 
them  one  after  another  tainted  with  a  cannibal  element, 
and  one  after  another  has  placed  them  on  the  proscript 
list.  Their  art  of  tattooing  stood  by  itself,  the  execution 
exquisite,  the  designs  most  beautiful  and  intricate; 
nothing  more  handsomely  sets  off  a  handsome  man; 
it  may  cost  some  pain  in  the  beginning,  but  I  doubt  if 
it  be  near  so  painful  in  the  long-run,  and  I  am  sure  it  is 
far  more  becoming  than  the  ignoble  European  practice  of 
tight-lacing  among  women.  And  now  it  has  been  found 
needful  to  forbid  the  art.  Their  songs  and  dances  were 
numerous  (and  the  law  has  had  to  abolish  them  by  the 
dozen).  They  now  face  empty-handed  the  tedium  of 
their  uneventful  days;  and  who  shall  pity  them  ?  The 
least  rigorous  will  say  that  they  were  justly  served. 

Death  alone  could  not  satisfy  Marquesan  vengeance: 
the  flesh  must  be  eaten.  The  chief  who  seized  Mr. 
Whalon  preferred  to  eat  him;  and  he  thought  he  had 
justified  the  wish  when  he  explained  it  was  a  ven- 


LONG-PIG  — A   CANNIBAL   HIGH    PLACE 

geance.  Two  or  three  years  ago,  the  people  of  a  val- 
ley seized  and  slew  a  wretch  who  had  offended  them. 
His  offence,  it  is  to  be  supposed,  was  dire;  they  could 
not  bear  to  leave  their  vengeance  incomplete,  and,  un- 
der the  eyes  of  the  French,  they  did  not  dare  to  hold 
a  public  festival.  The  body  was  accordingly  divided; 
and  every  man  retired  to  his  own  house  to  consummate 
the  rite  in  secret,  carrying  his  proportion  of  the  dread- 
ful meat  in  a  Swedish  match-box.  The  barbarous 
substance  of  the  drama  and  the  European  properties 
employed  offer  a  seizing  contrast  to  the  imagination. 
Yet  more  striking  is  another  incident  of  the  very  year 
when  I  was  there  myself,  1888.  In  the  spring,  a  man 
and  woman  skulked  about  the  school-house  in  Hiva-oa 
till  they  found  a  particular  child  alone.  Him  they  ap- 
proached with  honeyed  words  and  carneying  man- 
ners— "You  are  So-and-so,  son  of  So-and-So  .!^ "  they 
asked;  and  caressed  and  beguiled  him  deeper  in  the 
woods.  Some  instinct  woke  in  the  child's  bosom,  or 
some  look  betrayed  the  horrid  purpose  of  his  deceivers. 
He  sought  to  break  from  them;  he  screamed;  and  they, 
casting  off  the  mask,  seized  him  the  more  strongly  and 
began  to  run.  His  cries  were  heard;  his  schoolmates, 
playing  not  far  off,  came  running  to  the  rescue;  and 
the  sinister  couple  fled  and  vanished  in  the  woods. 
They  were  never  identified;  no  prosecution  followed; 
but  it  was  currently  supposed  they  had  some  grudge 
against  the  boy's  father,  and  designed  to  eat  him  in 
revenge.  All  over  the  islands,  as  at  home  among  our 
own  ancestors,  it  will  be  observed  that  the  avenger 
takes  no  particular  heed  to  strike  an  individual.  A 
family,  a  class,  a  village,  a  whole  valley  or  island,   a 


THK  SOUTH   SEAS 

whole  race  of  mankind,  share  equally  the  guilt  of  any 
member.  So,  in  the  above  story,  the  son  was  to  pay 
the  penalty  for  his  father;  so  Mr.  Whalon,  the  mate  of 
an  American  whaler,  was  to  bleed  and  be  eaten  for  the 
misdeeds  of  a  Peruvian  slaver.  I  am  reminded  of  an 
incident  in  Jaluit  in  the  Marshall  group,  which  was 
told  me  by  an  eye-witness,  and  which  I  tell  here  again 
for  the  strangeness  of  the  scene.  Two  men  had  awak- 
ened the  animosity  of  the  Jaluit  chiefs;  and  it  was  their 
wives  who  were  selected  to  be  punished.  A  single 
native  served  as  executioner.  Early  in  the  morning, 
in  the  face  of  a  large  concourse  of  spectators,  he  waded 
out  upon  the  reef  between  his  victims.  These  neither 
complained  nor  resisted;  accompanied  their  destroyer 
patiently;  stooped  down,  when  they  had  waded  deep 
enough,  at  his  command;  and  he  (laying  one  hand 
upon  the  shoulders  of  each)  held  them  under  water 
till  they  drowned.  Doubtless,  although  my  informant 
did  not  tell  me  so,  their  families  would  be  lamenting 
aloud  upon  the  beach. 

It  was  from  Hatiheu  that  I  paid  my  first  visit  to  a 
cannibal  high  place. 

The  day  was  sultry  and  clouded.  Drenching  trop- 
ical showers  succeeded  bursts  of  sweltering  sunshine. 
The  green  pathway  of  the  road  wound  steeply  upward. 
As  we  went,  our  little  schoolboy  guide  a  little  ahead  of 
us.  Father  Simeon  had  his  portfolio  in  his  hand,  and 
named  the  trees  for  me,  and  read  aloud  from  his  notes 
the  abstract  of  their  virtues.  Presently  the  road,  mount- 
ing, showed  us  the  vale  of  Hatiheu  on  a  larger  scale; 
and  the  priest,  with  occasional  reference  to  our  guide, 
pointed  out  the  boundaries  and  told  me  the  names  of 

102 


LONG-PIG  — A   CANNIBAL   HIGH    PlACE 

the  larger  tribes  that  lived  at  perpetual  war  in  the  old 
days;  one  on  the  north-east,  one  along  the  beach,  one 
behind  upon  the  mountain.  With  a  survivor  of  this 
latter  clan  Father  Simeon  had  spoken ;  until  the  pacifi- 
cation he  had  never  been  to  the  sea's  edge,  nor,  if  I  re- 
member exactly,  eaten  of  sea-fish.  Each  in  its  own  dis- 
trict, the  septs  lived  cantoned  and  beleaguered.  One 
step  without  the  boundaries  was  to  affront  death.  If 
famine  came,  the  men  must  out  to  the  woods  to  gather 
chestnuts  and  small  fruits;  even  as  to  this  day,  if  the 
parents  are  backward  in  their  weekly  doles,  school  must 
be  broken  up  and  the  scholars  sent  foraging.  But  in 
the  old  days,  when  there  was  trouble  in  one  clan,  there 
would  be  activity  in  all  its  neighbours;  the  woods 
would  be  laid  full  of  ambushes;  and  he  who  went  after 
vegetables  for  himself  might  remain  to  be  a  joint  for  his 
hereditary  foes.  Nor  was  the  pointed  occasion  needful. 
A  dozen  different  natural  signs  and  social  junctures 
called  this  people  to  the  war-path  and  the  cannibal 
hunt.  Let  one  of  chiefly  rank  have  finished  his  tattoo- 
ing, the  wife  of  one  be  near  upon  her  time,  two  of  the 
debouching  streams  have  deviated  nearer  on  the  beach 
of  Hatiheu,  a  certain  bird  have  been  heard  to  sing,  a 
certain  ominous  formation  of  cloud  observed  above  the 
northern  sea;  and  instantly  the  arms  were  oiled,  and 
the  man-hunters  swarmed  into  the  wood  to  lay  their 
fratricidal  ambuscades.  It  appears  besides  that  occa- 
sionally, perhaps  in  famine,  the  priest  would  shut  him- 
self in  his  house,  where  he  lay  for  a  stated  period  like 
a  person  dead.  When  he  came  forth  it  was  to  run  for 
three  days  through  the  territory  of  the  clan,  naked  and 
starving,  and  to  sleep  at  night  alone  in  the  high  place. 

103 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

It  was  now  the  turn  of  the  others  to  keep  the  house,  for 
to  encounter  the  priest  upon  his  rounds  was  death.  On 
the  eve  of  the  fourth  day  the  time  of  the  running  was 
over;  the  priest  returned  to  his  roof,  the  laymen  came 
forth,  and  in  the  morning  the  number  of  the  victims  was 
announced.  I  have  this  tale  of  the  priest  on  one  au- 
thority—  I  thini<  a  good  one, — but  I  set  it  down  with 
diffidence.  The  particulars  are  so  striking  that,  had 
they  been  true,  1  almost  think  1  must  have  heard  them 
oftener  referred  to.  Upon  one  point  there  seems  to  be 
no  question:  that  the  feast  was  sometimes  furnished 
from  within  the  clan.  In  times  of  scarcity,  all  who  were 
not  protected  by  their  family  connections  —  in  the  High- 
land expression,  all  the  commons  of  the  clan  —  had  cause 
to  tremble.  It  was  vain  to  resist,  it  was  useless  to  flee. 
They  were  begirt  upon  all  hands  by  cannibals;  and  the 
oven  was  ready  to  smoke  for  them  abroad  in  the  country 
of  their  foes,  or  at  home  in  the  valley  of  their  fathers. 

At  a  certain  corner  of  the  road  our  scholar-guide 
struck  off  to  his  left  into  the  twilight  of  the  forest.  We 
were  now  on  one  of  the  ancient  native  roads,  plunged 
in  a  high  vault  of  wood,  and  clambering,  it  seemed,  at 
random  over  boulders  and  dead  trees;  but  the  lad 
wound  in  and  out  and  up  and  down  without  a  check, 
for  these  paths  are  to  the  natives  as  marked  as  the  king's 
highway  is  to  us ;  insomuch  that,  in  the  days  of  the  man- 
hunt, it  was  their  labour  rather  to  block  and  deface 
than  to  improve  them.  In  the  crypt  of  the  wood  the 
air  was  clammy  and  hot  and  cold;  overhead,  upon  the 
leaves,  the  tropical  rain  uproariously  poured,  but  only 
here  and  there,  as  through  holes  in  a  leaky  roof,  a  single 
drop  would  fall,  and  make  a  spot  upon  my  mackintosh. 

104 


LONG-PIG  — A   CANNIBAL   HIGH    PLACE 

Presently  the  huge  trunk  of  a  banyan  hove  in  sight, 
standing  upon  what  seemed  the  ruins  of  an  ancient  fort; 
and  our  guide,  halting  and  holding  forth  his  arm,  an- 
nounced that  we  had  reached  the  paepae  tapit. 

Paepae  signifies  a  floor  or  platform  such  as  a  native 
house  is  built  on;  and  even  such  a  paepae  —  a  paepae 
hae — may  be  called  a  paepae  tapu  in  a  lesser  sense 
when  it  is  deserted  and  becomes  the  haunt  of  spirits; 
but  the  public  high  place,  such  as  1  was  now  treading, 
was  a  thing  on  a  great  scale.  As  far  as  my  eyes  could 
pierce  through  the  dark  undergrowth,  the  floor  of  the 
forest  was  all  paved.  Three  tiers  of  terrace  ran  on  the 
slope  of  the  hill;  in  front,  a  crumbling  parapet  contained 
the  main  arena;  and  the  pavement  of  that  was  pierced 
and  parcelled  out  with  several  wells  and  small  enclo- 
sures. No  trace  remained  of  any  superstructure,  and 
the  scheme  of  the  amphitheatre  was  difficult  to  seize. 
1  visited  another  in  Hiva-oa,  smaller  but  more  perfect, 
where  it  was  easy  to  follow  rows  of  benches,  and  to 
distinguish  isolated  seats  of  honour  for  eminent  per- 
sons; and  where,  on  the  upper  platform,  a  single  joist 
of  the  temple  or  dead-house  still  remained,  its  uprights 
richly  carved.  In  the  old  days  the  high  place  was  sed- 
ulously tended.  No  tree  except  the  sacred  banyan  was 
suffered  to  encroach  upon  its  grades,  no  dead  leaf  to  rot 
upon  the  pavement.  The  stones  were  smoothly  set,  and 
I  am  told  they  were  kept  bright  with  oil.  On  all  sides 
the  guardians  lay  encamped  in  their  subsidiary  huts  to 
watch  and  cleanse  it.  No  other  foot  of  man  was  suf- 
fered to  draw  near;  only  the  priest,  in  the  days  of  his 
running,  came  there  to  sleep  —  perhaps  to  dream  of  his 
ungodly  errand;  but,  in  the  time  of  the  feast,  the  clan 

105 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

trooped  to  the  high  place  in  a  body,  and  each  had  his 
appointed  seat.  There  were  places  for  the  chiefs,  the 
drummers,  the  dancers,  the  women,  and  the  priests. 
The  drums,  perhaps  twenty  strong,  and  some  of  them 
twelve  feet  high  —  continuously  throbbed  in  time.  In 
time  the  singers  kept  up  their  long-drawn,  lugubrious, 
ululating  song;  in  time,  too,  the  dancers,  tricked  out  in 
singular  finery,  stepped,  leaped,  swayed,  and  gesticu- 
lated, their  plumed  fingers  fluttering  in  the  air  like  but- 
terflies. The  sense  of  time,  in  all  these  ocean  races,  is 
extremely  perfect;  and  I  conceive  in  such  a  festival  that 
almost  every  sound  and  movement  fell  in  one.  So 
much  the  more  unanimously  must  have  grown  the  agi- 
tation of  the  feasters :  so  much  the  more  wild  must  have 
been  the  scene  to  any  European  who  could  have  beheld 
them  there,  in  the  strong  sun  and  the  strong  shadow  of 
the  banyan,  rubbed  with  saffron  to  throw  in  a  more 
high  relief  the  arabesque  of  the  tattoo;  the  women 
bleached  by  days  of  confinement  to  a  complexion  al- 
most European;  the  chiefs  crowned  with  silver  plumes 
of  old  men's  beards  and  girt  with  kirtles  of  the  hair  of 
dead  women.  All  manner  of  island  food  was  mean- 
while spread  for  the  women  and  the  commons;  and, 
for  those  who  were  privileged  to  eat  of  it,  there  were 
carried  up  to  the  dead-house  the  baskets  of  long-pig. 
It  is  told  that  the  feasts  were  long  kept  up;  the  people 
came  from  them  brutishly  exhausted  with  debauchery, 
and  the  chiefs  heavy  with  their  beastly  food.  There 
are  certain  sentiments  which  we  call  emphatically  hu- 
man —  denying  the  honour  of  that  name  to  those  who 
lack  them.  In  such  feasts  —  particularly  where  the  vic- 
tim had  been  slain  at  home,  and  men  banqueted  on  the 

106 


LONG  PIG  — A   CANNIBAL   HIGH    PLACE 

poor  clay  of  a  comrade  with  whom  they  had  played  in 
infancy,  or  a  woman  whose  favours  they  had  shared  — 
the  whole  body  of  these  sentiments  is  outraged.  To 
consider  it  too  closely  is  to  understand,  if  not  to  excuse, 
these  fervours  of  self-righteous  old  ship-captains,  who 
would  man  their  guns,  and  open  fire  in  passing,  on  a 
cannibal  island. 

And  yet  it  was  strange.  There,  upon  the  spot,  as  1 
stood  under  the  high,  dripping  vault  of  the  forest,  with 
the  young  priest  on  the  one  hand,  in  his  kilted  gown, 
and  the  bright-eyed  Marquesan  schoolboy  on  the  other, 
the  whole  business  appeared  infinitely  distant,  and, 
fallen  in  the  cold  perspective  and  dry  light  of  history. 
The  bearing  of  the  priest,  perhaps,  affected  me.  He 
smiled ;  he  jested  with  the  boy,  the  heir  both  of  these 
feasters  and  their  meat;  he  clapped  his  hands,  and  gave 
me  a  stave  of  one  of  the  old,  ill-omened  choruses.  Cen- 
turies might  have  come  and  gone  since  this  slimy  the- 
atre was  last  in  operation ;  and  I  beheld  the  place  with 
no  more  emotion  than  1  might  have  felt  in  visiting 
Stonehenge.  In  Hiva-oa,  as  I  began  to  appreciate  that 
the  thing  was  still  living  and  latent  about  my  footsteps, 
and  that  it  was  still  within  the  bounds  of  possibility 
that  1  might  hear  the  cry  of  the  trapped  victim,  my  his- 
toric attitude  entirely  failed,  and  1  was  sensible  of  some 
repugnance  for  the  natives.  But  here,  too,  the  priests 
maintained  their  jocular  attitude:  rallying  the  cannibals 
as  upon  an  eccentricity  rather  absurd  than  horrible; 
seeking,  I  should  say,  to  shame  them  from  the  practice 
by  good-natured  ridicule,  as  we  shame  a  child  from 
stealing  sugar.  We  may  here  recognise  the  temperate 
and  sagacious  mind  of  Bishop  Dordillon. 

107 


CHAPTER   XII 

THE   STORY    OF   A    PLANTATION 

Taahauku,  on  the  south-westerly  coast  of  the  island 
of  Hiva-oa  —  Tahuku,  say  the  slovenly  whites  —  may 
be  called  the  port  of  Atuona.  It  is  a  narrow  and  small 
anchorage,  set  between  low  cliffy  points,  and  opening 
above  upon  a  woody  valley:  a  little  French  fort,  now 
disused  and  deserted,  overhangs  the  valley  and  the  in- 
let. Atuona  itself,  at  the  head  of  the  next  bay,  is  framed 
in  a  theatre  of  mountains,  which  dominate  the  more 
immediate  settling  of  Taahauku  and  give  the  salient 
character  of  the  scene.  They  are  reckoned  at  no  higher 
than  four  thousand  feet;  but  Tahiti  with  eight  thousand, 
and  Hawaii  with  fifteen,  can  offer  no  such  picture  of 
abrupt,  melancholy  alps.  In  the  morning,  when  the 
sun  falls  directly  on  their  front,  they  stand  like  a  vast 
wall:  green  to  the  summit,  if  by  any  chance  the  sum- 
mit should  be  clear  —  watercourses  here  and  there  de- 
lineated on  their  face,  as  narrow  as  cracks.  Towards 
afternoon,  the  light  falls  more  obliquely,  and  the  sculp- 
ture of  the  range  comes  in  relief,  huge  gorges  sinking 
into  shadow,  huge,  tortuous  buttresses  standing  edged 
with  sun.     At  all  hours  of  the  day  they  strike  the  eye 

108 


THE  STORY   OF   A    PLANTATION 

with  some  new  beauty,  and  the  mind  with  the  same 
menacing  gloom. 

The  mountains,  dividing  and  deflecting  the  endless 
airy  deluge  of  the  Trade,  are  doubtless  answerable  for 
the  climate.  A  strong  draught  of  wind  blew  day  and 
night  over  the  anchorage.  Day  and  night  the  same  fan- 
tastic and  attenuated  clouds  fled  across  the  heavens,  the 
same  dusky  cap  of  rain  and  vapour  fell  and  rose  on  the 
mountain.  The  land-breezes  came  very  strong  and 
chill,  and  the  sea,  like  the  air,  was  in  perpetual  bustle. 
The  swell  crowded  into  the  narrow  anchorage  like 
sheep  into  a  fold ;  broke  all  along  both  sides,  high  on 
the  one,  low  on  the  other;  kept  a  certain  blowhole 
sounding  and  smoking  like  a  cannon;  and  spent  itself 
at  last  upon  the  beach. 

On  the  side  away  from  Atuona,  the  sheltering  promon- 
tory was  a  nursery  of  coco-trees.  Some  were  mere  in- 
fants, none  had  attained  to  any  size,  none  had  yet 
begun  to  shoot  skyward  with  that  whip-like  shaft  of 
the  mature  palm.  In  the  young  trees  the  colour  alters 
with  the  age  and  growth.  Now  all  is  of  a  grass-like 
hue,  infinitely  dainty;  next  the  rib  grows  golden,  the 
fronds  remaining  green  as  ferns;  and  then,  as  the  trunk 
continues  to  mount  and  to  assume  its  final  hue  of  grey, 
the  fans  put  on  manlier  and  more  decided  depths  of 
verdure,  stand  out  dark  upon  the  distance,  glisten  against 
the  sun,  and  flash  like  silver  fountains  in  the  assault  of 
the  wind.  In  this  young  wood  of  Taahauku,  all  these 
hues  and  combinations  were  exampled  and  repeated  by 
the  score.  The  trees  grew  pleasantly  spaced  upon  a 
hilly  sward,  here  and  there  interspersed  with  a  rack  for 
drying   copra,  or  a   tumble-down  hut  for  storing  it. 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

Every  here  and  there  the  stroller  had  a  glimpse  of  the 
Casco  tossing  in  the  narrow  anchorage  below;  and  be- 
yond he  had  ever  before  him  the  dark  amphitheatre  of 
the  Atuona  mountains  and  the  cliffy  bluff  that  closes  it 
to  seaward.  The  trade  wind  moving  in  the  fans  made 
a  ceaseless  noise  of  summer  rain  ;  and  from  time  to  time, 
with  the  sound  of  a  sudden  and  distant  drum-beat,  the 
surf  would  burst  in  a  sea-cave. 

At  the  upper  end  of  the  inlet,  its  low,  cliffy  lining 
sinks,  at  both  sides,  into  a  beach.  A  copra  warehouse 
stands  in  the  shadow  of  the  shoreside  trees,  flitted 
about  for  ever  by  a  clan  of  dwarfish  swallows;  and  a 
line  of  rails  on  a  high  wooden  staging  bends  back  into 
the  mouth  of  the  valley.  Walking  on  this,  the  new- 
landed  traveller  becomes  aware  of  a  broad  fresh-water 
lagoon  (one  arm  of  which  he  crosses),  and  beyond,  of 
a  grove  of  noble  palms,  sheltering  the  house  of  the 
trader,  Mr.  Keane.  Overhead,  the  cocos  join  in  a  con- 
tinuous and  lofty  roof;  blackbirds  are  heard  lustily  sing- 
ing; the  island  cock  springs  his  jubilant  rattle  and  airs 
his  golden  plumage;  cow-bells  sound  far  and  near  in 
the  grove;  and  when  you  sit  in  the  broad  verandah, 
lulled  by  this  symphony,  you  may  say  to  yourself,  if  you 
are  able:  "Better  fifty  years  of  Europe  .  .  ."  Farther 
on,  the  floor  of  the  valley  is  flat  and  green,  and  dotted 
here  and  there  with  stripling  coco  palms.  Through  the 
midst,  with  many  changes  of  music,  the  river  trots  and 
brawls;  and  along  its  course,  where  we  should  look  for 
willows,  puraos  grow  in  clusters,  and  make  shadowy 
pools  after  an  angler's  heart.  A  vale  more  rich  and 
peaceful,  sweeter  air,  a  sweeter  voice  of  rural  sounds,  I 
have  found  nowhere.      One  circumstance  alone  might 


THE  STORY   OF  A   PLANTATION 

Strike  the  experienced:  here  is  a  convenient  beach,  deep 
soil,  good  water,  and  yet  nowhere  any  paepaes,  no- 
where any  trace  of  island  habitation. 

It  is  but  a  few  years  since  this  valley  was  a  place 
choked  with  jungle,  the  debatable  land  and  battle- 
ground of  cannibals.  Two  clans  laid  claim  to  it  — 
neither  could  substantiate  the  claim,  and  the  roads  lay 
desert,  or  were  only  visited  by  men  in  arms.  It  is  for 
this  very  reason  that  it  wears  now  so  smiling  an  ap- 
pearance: cleared,  planted,  built  upon,  supplied  with 
railways,  boat-houses,  and  bath-houses.  For,  being 
no  man's  land,  it  was  the  more  readily  ceded  to  a 
stranger.  The  stranger  was  Captain  John  Hart:  Ima 
Hati,  "Broken-arm,"  the  natives  call  him,  because 
when  he  first  visited  the  islands  his  arm  was  in  a  sling. 
Captain  Hart,  a  man  of  English  birth  but  an  American 
subject,  had  conceived  the  idea  of  cotton  culture  in  the 
Marquesas  during  the  American  War,  and  was  at  first 
rewarded  with  success.  His  plantation  at  Anaho  was 
highly  productive;  island  cotton  fetched  a  high  price, 
and  the  natives  used  to  debate  which  was  the  stronger 
power,  Ima  Hati  or  the  French :  deciding  in  f;ivour  of 
the  captain,  because,  though  the  French  had  the  most 
ships,  he  had  the  more  money. 

He  marked  Taahauku  for  a  suitable  site,  acquired  it, 
and  offered  the  superintendence  to  Mr.  Robert  Stewart, 
a  Fifeshire  man,  already  some  time  in  the  islands,  who 
had  just  been  ruined  by  a  war  on  Tauata.  Mr.  Stewart 
was  somewhat  averse  to  the  adventure,  having  some 
acquaintance  with  Atuona  and  its  notorious  chieftain, 
Moipu.  He  had  once  landed  there,  he  told  me,  about 
dusk,  and  found  the  remains  of  a  man  and  woman 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

partly  eaten.  On  his  starting  and  sickening  at  the 
sight,  one  of  Moipu's  young  men  picked  up  a  human 
foot,  and  provocatively  staring  at  the  stranger,  grinned 
and  nibbled  at  the  heel.  None  need  be  surprised  if 
Mr.  Stewart  fled  incontinently  to  the  bush,  lay  there 
all  night  in  a  great  horror  of  mind,  and  got  off  to  sea 
again  by  daylight  on  the  morrow.  "It  was  always  a 
bad  place,  Atuona,"  commented  Mr.  Stewart,  in  his 
homely  Fifeshire  voice.  In  spite  of  this  dire  introduc- 
tion, he  accepted  the  captain's  offer,  was  landed  at 
Taahauku  with  three  Chinamen,  and  proceeded  to  clear 
the  jungle. 

War  was  pursued  at  that  time,  almost  without  in- 
terval, between  the  men  of  Atuona  and  the  men  of 
Haamau;  and  one  day,  from  the  opposite  sides  of  the 
valley,  battle — or  I  should  rather  say  the  noise  of  battle 
—  raged  all  the  afternoon:  the  shots  and  insults  of  the 
opposing  clans  passing  from  hill  to  hill'over  the  heads 
of  Mr.  Stewart  and  his  Chinamen.  There  was  no  genu- 
ine fighting;  it  was  like  a  bicker  of  schoolboys,  only 
some  fool  had  given  the  children  guns.  One  man  died 
of  his  exertions  in  running,  the  only  casualty.  With 
night  the  shots  and  insults  ceased;  the  men  of  Haamau 
withdrew;  and  victory,  on  some  occult  principle,  was 
scored  to  Moipu.  Perhaps,  in  consequence,  there  came 
a  day  when  Moipu  made  a  feast,  and  a  party  from  Haa- 
mau came  under  safe-conduct  to  eat  of  it.  These  passed 
early  by  Taahauku,  and  some  of  Moipu's  young  men 
were  there  to  be  a  guard  of  honour.  They  were  not 
long  gone  before  there  came  down  from  Haamau,  a 
man,  his  wife,  and  a  girl  of  twelve,  their  daughter, 
bringing  fungus.     Several  Atuona  lads  were  hanging 

I  12 


THE   STORY   OF   A   PLANTATION 

round  the  store;  but  the  day  being  one  of  truce  none 
apprehended  danger.  The  fungus  was  weighed  and 
paid  for;  the  man  of  Haamau  proposed  he  should  have 
his  axe  ground  in  the  bargain;  and  Mr.  Stewart  de- 
murring at  the  trouble,  some  of  the  Atuonaiads  offered 
to  grind  it  for  him,  and  set  it  on  the  wheel.  While 
the  axe  was  grinding,  a  friendly  native  whispered  Mr. 
Stewart  to  have  a  care  of  himself,  for  there  was  trouble 
in  hand;  and,  all  at  once,  the  man  of  Haamau  was 
seized,  and  his  head  and  arm  stricken  from  his  body, 
the  head  at  one  sweep  of  his  own  newly  sharpened 
axe.  In  the  tlrst  alert,  the  girl  escaped  among  the  cot- 
ton; and  Mr.  Stewart,  having  thrust  the  wife  into  the 
house  and  locked  her  in  from  the  outside,  supposed 
the  affiiir  was  over.  But  the  business  had  not  passed 
without  noise,  and  it  reached  the  ears  of  an  older  girl 
who  had  loitered  by  the  way,  and  who  now  came 
hastily  down  the  valley,  crying  as  she  came  for  her 
father.  Her,  too,  they  seized  and  beheaded;  I  know 
not  what  they  had  done  with  the  axe,  it  was  a  blunt 
knife  that  served  their  butcherly  turn  upon  the  girl; 
and  the  blood  spurted  in  fountains  and  painted  them 
from  head  to  foot.  Thus  horrible  from  crime,  the  party 
returned  to  Atuonn,  carrying  the  heads  to  Moipu.  It 
may  be  fancied  how  the  feast  broke  up;  but  it  is  nota- 
ble that  the  guests  were  honourably  suffered  to  retire. 
These  passed  back  through  Taahauku  in  extreme  dis- 
order; a  little  after  the  valley  began  to  be  overrun  with 
shouting  and  triumphing  braves;  and  a  letter  of  warn- 
ing coming  at  the  same  time  to  Mr.  Stewart,  he  and 
his  Chinamen  took  refuge  with  the  Protestant  mission- 
ary in  Atuona.     That  night  the  store  was  gutted,  and 

>'3 


TUB  SOUTH   SEAS 

the  bodies  cast  in  a  pit  and  covered  with  leaves.  Three 
days  later  the  schooner  had  come  in ;  and  things  ap- 
pearing quieter,  Mr.  Stewart  and  the  captain  landed  in 
Taahauku  to  compute  the  damage  and  to  view  the 
grave,  which  was  already  indicated  by  the  stench. 
While  they  were  so  employed,  a  party  of  Moipu's 
young  men,  decked  with  red  flannel  to  indicate  mar- 
tial sentiments,  came  over  the  hills  from  Atuona,  dug 
up  the  bodies,  washed  them  in  the  river,  and  carried 
them  away  on  sticks.     That  night  the  feast  began. 

Those  who  knew  Mr.  Stewart  before  this  experience 
declare  the  man  to  be  quite  altered.  He  stuck,  however, 
to  his  post;  and  somewhat  later,  when  the  plantation  was 
already  well  established,  and  gave  employment  to  sixty 
Chinamen  and  seventy  natives,  he  found  himself  once 
more  in  dangerous  times.  The  men  of  Haamau,  it 
was  reported,  had  sworn  to  plunder  and  erase  the  set- 
tlement; letters  came  continually  from  the  Hawaiian 
missionary,  who  acted  as  intelligence  department;  and 
for  six  weeks  Mr.  Stewart  and  three  other  whites  slept 
in  the  cotton-house  at  night  in  a  rampart  of  bales,  and 
(what  was  their  best  defence)  ostentatiously  practised 
rifle-shooting  by  day  upon  the  beach.  Natives  were 
often  there  to  watch  them;  the  practice  was  excellent; 
and  the  assault  was  never  delivered  —  if  it  ever  was  in- 
tended, which  I  doubt,  for  the  natives  are  more  famous 
for  false  rumours  than  for  deeds  of  energy.  I  was  told 
the  late  French  war  was  a  case  in  point;  the  tribes  on 
the  beach  accusing  those  in  the  mountains  of  designs 
which  they  had  never  the  hardihood  to  entertain.  And 
the  same  testimony  to  their  backwardness  in  open  bat- 
tle  reached   me  from   all   sides.     Captain   Hart   once 

114 


THE  STORY   OF   A    PLANTATION  ' 

landed  nfter  an  engagement  in  a  certain  bay ;  one  man 
had  his  hand  hurt,  an  old  woman  and  two  children 
had  been  slain;  and  the  captain  improved  the  occasion 
by  poulticing  the  hand,  and  taunting  both  sides  upon 
so  wretched  an  affair.  It  is  true  these  wars  were  often 
merely  formal  —  comparable  with  duels  to  the  first 
blood.  Captain  Hart  visited  a  bay  where  such  a  war 
was  being  carried  on  between  two  brothers,  one  of 
whom  had  been  thought  wanting  in  civility  to  the 
guests  of  the  other.  About  one  half  of  the  population 
served  day  about  upon  alternate  sides,  so  as  to  be 
well  with  each  when  the  inevitable  peace  should  fol- 
low. The  forts  of  the  belligerents  were  over  against 
each  other,  and  close  by.  Pigs  were  cooking.  Well- 
oiled  braves,  with  well-oiled  muskets,  strutted  on  the 
paepae  or  sat  down  to  feast.  No  business,  however 
needful,  could  be  done,  and  all  thoughts  were  supposed 
to  be  centred  in  this  mockery  of  war.  A  few  days 
later,  by  a  regrettable  accident,  a  man  was  killed;  it 
was  felt  at  once  the  thing  had  gone  too  far,  and  the 
quarrel  was  instantly  patched  up.  But  the  more  seri- 
ous wars  were  prosecuted  in  a  similar  spirit;  a  gift  of 
pigs  and  a  feast  made  their  inevitable  end;  the  killing 
of  a  single  man  was  a  great  victory,  and  the  murder 
of  defenceless  solitaries  counted  a  heroic  deed. 

The  foot  of  the  cliffs,  about  all  these  islands,  is  the 
place  of  fishing.  Between  Taahauku  and  Atuona  v/e 
saw  men,  but  chiefly  women,  some  nearly  naked,  some 
in  thin  white  or  crimson  dresses,  perched  in  little  surf- 
beat  promontories  —  the  brown  precipice  overhanging 
them,  and  the  convolvulus  overhanging  that,  as  if  to 
cut  them   off  the  more  completely  from   assistance. 

115 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

There  they  would  angle  much  of  the  morning;  and  as 
fast  as  they  caught  any  fish,  eat  them,  raw  and  living, 
where  they  stood.  It  was  such  helpless  ones  that  the 
warriors  from  the  opposite  island  of  Tauata  slew,  and 
carried  home  and  ate,  and  were  thereupon  accounted 
mighty  men  of  valour.  Of  one  such  exploit  I  can  give 
the  account  of  an  eye-witness.  "  Portuguese  Joe,"  Mr. 
Keane's  cook,  was  once  pulling  an  oar  in  an  Atuona 
boat,  when  they  spied  a  stranger  in  a  canoe  with  some 
fish  and  a  piece  of  tapu.  The  Atuona  men  cried  upon 
him  to  draw  near  and  have  a  smoke.  He  complied, 
because,  1  suppose,  he  had  no  choice;  but  he  knew, 
poor  devil,  what  he  was  coming  to,  and  (as  Joe  said) 
"he  didn't  seem  to  care  about  the  smoke."  A  few 
questions  followed,  as  to  where  he  came  from,  and  what 
was  his  business.  These  he  must  needs  answer,  as  he 
must  needs  draw  at  the  unwelcome  pipe,  his  heart  the 
while  drying  in  his  bosom.  And  then,  of  a  sudden,  a 
big  fellow  in  Joe's  boat  leaned  over,  plucked  the  stranger 
from  his  canoe,  struck  him  with  a  knife  in  the  neck — in- 
ward and  downward,  as  Joe  showed  in  pantomime  more 
expressive  than  his  words  —  and  held  him  under  water, 
like  a  fowl,  until  his  struggles  ceased.  Whereupon  the 
long-pig  was  hauled  on  board,  the  boat's  head  turned 
about  for  Atuona,  and  these  Marquesan  braves  pulled 
home  rejoicing.  Moipu  was  on  the  beach  and  rejoiced 
with  them  on  their  arrival.  Poor  Joe  toiled  at  his  oar 
that  day  with  a  white  face,  yet  he  had  no  fear  for  him- 
self. "  They  were  very  good  to  me  —  gave  me  plenty 
grub:  never  wished  to  eat  white  man,"  said  he. 

If  the  most  horrible  experience  was  Mr.  Stewart's,  it 
was  Captain  Hart  himself  who  ran  the  nearest  danger. 

ii6 


THE   STORY   OF   A    PLANTATION 

He  had  bought  a  piece  of  land  from  Timau,  chief  of  a 
neighboring  bay,  and  put  some  Chinese  there  to  work. 
Visiting  the  station  with  one  of  the  Godeffroys,  he  found 
his  Chinamen  trooping  to  the  beach  in  terror;  Timau 
had  driven  them  out,  seized  their  effects,  and  was  in 
war  attire  with  his  young  men.  A  boat  was  despatched 
to  Taahauku  for  reinforcement;  as  they  awaited  her  re- 
turn, they  could  see,  from  the  deck  of  the  schooner, 
Timau  and  his  young  men  dancing  the  war-dance  on  a 
hill-top  till  past  twelve  at  night;  and  so  soon  as  the 
boat  came  (bringing  three  gendarmes,  armed  with 
chassepots,  two  white  men  from  Taahauku  station,  and 
some  native  warriors)  the  party  set  out  to  seize  the 
chief  before  he  should  awake.  Day  was  not  come,  and 
it  was  a  very  bright  moonlight  morning,  when  they 
reached  the  hill-top  where  (in  a  house  of  palm-leaves) 
Timau  was  sleeping  off  his  debauch.  The  assailants 
were  fully  exposed,  the  interior  of  the  hut  quite  dark; 
the  position  far  from  sound.  The  gendarmes  knelt  with 
their  pieces  ready,  and  Captain  Hart  advanced  alone. 
As  he  drew  near  the  door  he  heard  the  snap  of  a  gun 
cocking  from  within,  and  in  sheer  self-defence  —  there 
being  no  other  escape  —  sprang  into  the  house  and 
grappled  Timau.  "Timau,  come  with  me!"  he  cried. 
But  Timau  —  a  great  fellow,  his  eyes  blood-red  with 
the  abuse  of  kava,  six  foot  three  in  stature  —  cast  him  on 
one  side ;  and  the  captain,  instantly  expecting  to  be  either 
shot  or  brained,  discharged  his  pistol  in  the  dark. 
When  they  carried  Timau  out  at  the  door  into  the  moon- 
light, he  was  already  dead,  and,  upon  this  unlooked-for 
termination  of  their  sally,  the  whites  appeared  to  have 
lost  all  conduct,  and  retreated  to  the  boats,  fired  upon 

117 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

by  the  natives  as  they  went.  Captain  Hart,  who  almost 
rivals  Bishop  Dordillon  in  popularity,  shared  with  him 
the  policy  of  extreme  indulgence  to  the  natives,  regard- 
ing them  as  children,  making  light  of  their  defects,  and 
constantly  in  favour  of  mild  measures.  The  death  of 
Timau  has  thus  somewhat  weighed  upon  his  mind;  the 
more  so,  as  the  chieftain's  musket  was  found  in  the 
house  unloaded.  To  a  less  delicate  conscience  the  mat- 
ter will  seem  light.  If  a  drunken  savage  elects  to  cock 
a  fire-arm,  a  gentleman  advancing  towards  him  in  the 
open  cannot  wait  to  make  sure  if  it  be  charged. 

I  have  touched  on  the  captain's  popularity.  It  is  one 
of  the  things  that  most  strikes  a  stranger  in  the  Marque- 
sas. He  comes  instantly  on  two  names,  both  new  to 
him,  both  locally  famous,  both  mentioned  by  all  with 
affection  and  respect  —  the  bishop's  and  the  captain's. 
It  gave  me  a  strong  desire  to  meet  with  the  survivor, 
which  was  subsequently  gratified  —  to  the  enrichment 
of  these  pages.  Long  after  that  again,  in  the  Place  Dol- 
orous—  Molokai — I  came  once  more  on  the  traces  of 
that  affectionate  popularity.  There  was  a  blind  white 
leper  there,  an  old  sailor — "an  old  tough,"  he  called 
himself — who  had  long  sailed  among  the  eastern  islands. 
Him  1  used  to  visit,  and,  being  fresh  from  the  scenes  of 
his  activity,  gave  him  the  news.  This  (in  the  true 
island  style)  was  largely  a  chronicle  of  wrecks;  and  it 
chanced  I  mentioned  the  case  of  one  not  very  successful 
captain,  and  how  he  had  lost  a  vessel  for  Mr.  Hart; 
thereupon  the  blind  leper  broke  forth  in  lamentation. 
"Did  he  lose  a  ship  of  John  Hart's.^"  he  cried;  "poor 
John  Hart!  Well,  I'm  sorry  it  was  Hart's,"  with  need- 
less force  of  epithet,  which  I  neglect  to  reproduce. 

1 18 


THE   STORY   OF    A    PLANTATION 

Perhaps,  if  Captain  Hart's  affairs  had  continued  to 
prosper,  his  popularity  might  have  been  different.  Suc- 
cess wins  glory,  but  it  kills  affection,  which  misfortune 
fosters.  And  the  misfortune  which  overtook  the  cap- 
tain's enterprise  was  truly  singular.  He  was  at  the  top 
of  his  career.  He  Masse  belonged  to  him,  given  by  the 
French  as  an  indemnity  for  the  robberies  at  Taahauku. 
But  the  He  Masse  was  only  suitable  for  cattle;  and  his 
two  chief  stations  were  Anaho,  in  Nuka-hiva,  facing  the 
north-east,  and  Taahauku  in  Hiva-oa,  some  hundred 
miles  to  the  southward,  and  facing  the  south-west. 
Both  these  were  on  the  same  day  swept  by  a  tidal 
wave,  which  was  not  felt  in  any  other  bay  or  island  of 
the  group.  The  south  coast  of  Hiva-oa  was  bestrewn 
with  building  timber  and  camphor-wood  chests,  con- 
taining goods;  which,  on  the  promise  of  a  reasonable 
salvage,  the  natives  very  honestly  brought  back,  the 
chests  apparently  not  opened,  and  some  of  the  wood 
after  it  had  been  built  into  their  houses.  But  the  re- 
covery of  such  jetsam  could  not  affect  the  result.  It  was 
impossible  the  captain  should  withstand  this  partiality 
of  fortune;  and  with  his  fall  the  prosperity  of  the  Mar- 
quesas ended.  Anaho  is  truly  extinct,  Taahauku  but  a 
shadow  of  itself;  nor  has  any  new  plantation  arisen  in 
their  stead. 


"9 


CHAPTER   XIII 


CHARACTERS 


There  was  a  certain  traffic  in  our  anchorage  at  Atu- 
ona;  different  indeed  from  the  dead  inertia  and  quies- 
cence of  the  sister  island,  Nuka-hiva.  Sails  were  seen 
steering  from  its  mouth ;  now  it  would  be  a  whale-boat 
manned  with  native  rowdies,  and  heavy  with  copra  for 
sale;  now  perhaps  a  single  canoe  come  after  commodi- 
ties to  buy.  The  anchorage  was  besides  frequented 
by  fishers;  not  only  the  lone  females  perched  in  niches 
of  the  cliff,  but  whole  parties,  who  would  sometimes 
camp  and  build  a  fire  upon  the  beach,  and  sometimes 
lie  in  their  canoes  in  the  midst  of  the  haven  and  jump 
by  turns  in  the  water;  which  they  would  cast  eight  or 
nine  feet  high,  to  drive,  as  we  supposed,  the  fish  into 
their  nets.  The  goods  the  purchasers  came  to  buy  were 
sometimes  quaint.  I  remarked  one  outrigger  returning 
with  a  single  ham  swung  from  a  pole  in  the  stern.  And 
one  day  there  came  into  Mr.  Keane's  store  a  charming 
lad,  excellently  mannered,  speaking  French  correctly 
though  with  a  babyish  accent;  very  handsome  too,  and 
much  of  a  dandy,  as  was  shown  not  only  in  his  shining 
raiment,  but  by  the  nature  of  his  purchases.  These 
were  five  ship-biscuits,  a  bottle  of  scent,  and  two  balls 
of  washing  blue.    He  was  from  Tauata,  whither  he  re- 

120 


CHARACTERS 

turned  the  same  night  in  an  outrigger,  daring  the  deep 
with  these  young-ladyish  treasures.  The  gross  of  the 
native  passengers  were  more  ill-favoured :  tall,  power- 
ful fellows,  well  tattooed,  and  with  disquieting  man- 
ners. Something  coarse  and  jeering  distinguished  them, 
and  1  was  often  reminded  of  the  slums  of  some  great 
city.  One  night,  as  dusk  was  falling,  a  whale-boat  put 
in  on  that  part  of  the  beach  where  I  chanced  to  be  alone. 
Six  or  seven  ruffianly  fellows  scrambled  out;  all  had 
enough  English  to  give  me  "good-bye."  which  was 
the  ordinary  salutation;  or  "good-morning,"  which 
they  seemed  to  regard  as  an  intensitive;  jests  followed, 
they  surrounded  me  with  harsh  laughter  and  rude  looks, 
and  1  was  glad  to  move  away.  I  had  not  yet  encoun- 
tered Mr.  Stewart,  or  I  should  have  been  reminded  of 
his  first  landing  at  Atuona  and  the  humorist  who  nib- 
bled at  the  heel.  But  their  neighbourhood  depressed 
me;  and  1  felt,  if  I  had  been  there  a  castaway  and  out 
of  reach  of  help,  my  heart  would  have  been  sick. 

Nor  was  the  traffic  altogether  native.  While  we  lay 
in  the  anchorage  there  befell  a  strange  coincidence.  A 
schooner  was  observed  at  sea  and  aiming  to  enter.  We 
knew  all  the  schooners  in  the  group,  but  this  appeared 
larger  than  any;  she  was  rigged,  besides,  after  the  Eng- 
lish manner;  and,  coming  to  an  anchor  some  way  out- 
side the  Cas.co,  showed  at  last  the  blue  ensign.  There 
were  at  that  time,  according  to  rumour,  no  fewer  than 
four  yachts  in  the  Pacific;  but  it  was  strange  that  any 
two  of  them  should  thus  lie  side  by  side  in  that  out- 
landish inlet:  stranger  still  that  in  the  owner  of  the 
Nyania,  Captain  Dewar,  I  should  find  a  man  of  the 
same  country  and  the  same  county  with  myself,  and 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

one  whom  1  had  seen  walking  as  a  boy  on  the  shores 
of  the  Alpes  Maritimes. 

We  had  besides  a  white  visitor  from  shore,  who 
came  and  departed  in  a  crowded  whale-boat  manned  by 
natives ;  having  read  of  yachts  in  the  Sunday  papers,  and 
being  fired  with  the  desire  to  see  one.  Captain  Chase, 
they  called  him,  an  old  whaler-man,  thickset  and  white- 
bearded,  with  a  strong  Indiana  drawl;  years  old  in  the 
country,  a  good  backer  in  battle,  and  one  of  those  dead 
shots  whose  practice  at  the  target  struck  terror  in  the 
braves  of  Haamau.  Captain  Chase  dwelt  farther  east  in 
a  bay  called  Hanamate,  with  a  Mr.  M'Callum ;  or  rather 
they  had  dwelt  together  once,  and  were  now  amicably 
separated.  The  captain  is  to  be  found  near  one  end  of 
the  bay,  in  a  wreck  of  a  house,  and  waited  on  by  a 
Chinese.  At  the  point  of  the  opposing  corner  another 
habitation  stands  on  a  tall  paepae.  The  surf  runs  there 
exceeding  heavy,  seas  of  seven  and  eight  feet  high 
bursting  under  the  walls  of  the  house,  which  is  thus 
continually  filled  with  their  clamour,  and  rendered  fit 
only  for  solitary,  or  at  least  for  silent,  inmates.  Here  it 
is  that  Mr.  M'Callum,  with  a  Shakespeare  and  a  Burns, 
enjoys  the  society  of  the  breakers.  His  name  and  his 
Burns  testify  to  Scottish  blood;  but  he  is  an  American 
born,  somewhere  far  east;  followed  the  trade  of  a  ship- 
carpenter;  and  was  long  employed,  the  captain  of  a 
hundred  Indians,  breaking  up  wrecks  about  Cape  Flat- 
tery. Many  of  the  whites  who  are  to  be  found  scattered 
in  the  South  Seas  represent  the  more  artistic  portion  of 
their  class;  and  not  only  enjoy  the  poetry  of  that  new 
life,  but  came  there  on  purpose  to  enjoy  it.  I  have 
been  shipmates  with  a  man,  no  longer  young,  who 

122 


CHARACTERS 

sailed  upon  that  voyage,  his  first  time  to  sen,  for  the 
mere  love  of  Samoa;  and  it  was  a  few  letters  in  a  news- 
paper that  sent  him  on  that  pilgrimage.  Mr.  M'Callum 
was  another  instance  of  the  same.  He  had  read  of  the 
South  Seas;  loved  to  read  of  them;  and  let  their  image 
fasten  in  his  heart:  till  at  length  he  could  refrain  no 
longer  —  must  set  forth,  a  new  Rudel,  for  that  unseen 
homeland  —  and  has  now  dwelt  for  years  in  Hiva-oa, 
and  will  lay  his  bones  there  in  the  end  with  full  con- 
tent; having  no  desire  to  behold  again  the  places  of  his 
boyhood,  only,  perhaps  —  once  before  he  dies  — the 
rude  and  wintry  landscape  of  Cape  Flattery.  Yet  he  is 
an  active  man,  full  of  schemes;  has  bought  land  of  the 
natives;  has  planted  five  thousand  coco  palms;  has  a 
desert  island  in  his  eye,  which  he  desires  to  lease,  and 
a  schooner  in  the  stocks,  which  he  has  laid  and  built 
himself,  and  even  hopes  to  finish.  Mr.  M'Callum  and 
I  did  not  meet,  but,  like  gallant  troubadours,  corre- 
sponded in  verse.  I  hope  he  will  not  consider  it  a  breach 
of  copyright  if  1  give  here  a  specimen  of  his  muse.  He 
and  Bishop  Dordillon  are  the  two  European  bards  of  the 
Marquesas. 


Sail,  ho!     Ahoy!     Casco, 
First  among  the  pleasure  fleet 
That  came  around  to  greet 

These  isles  from  San  Francisco. 


And  first,  too;  only  one 
Among  the  literary  men 
That  this  way  has  ever  been- 

Welcome,  tiien,  to  Stevenson. 
123 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

Please  not  offended  be 

At  this  little  notice 

Of  the  Casco,  Captain  Otis, 
With  the  novelist's  family. 

/4voir  line  voyage  maguifical, 
Is  our  wish  sincere, 
That  you'll  have  from  here 

/4lla}il  siir  la  Grande  Pacifical. 


But  our  chief  visitor  was  one  Mapiao,  a  great  Taiiuku 
—  which  seems  to  mean  priest,  wizard,  tattooer,  prac- 
tiser  of  any  art,  or,  in  a  word,  esoteric  person  —  and  a 
man  famed  for  his  eloquence  on  public  occasions  and 
witty  talk  in  private.  His  first  appearance  was  typical 
of  the  man.  He  came  down  clamorous  to  the  eastern 
landing,  where  the  surf  was  running  very  high ;  scorned 
all  our  signals  to  go  round  the  bay;  carried  his  point, 
was  brought  aboard  at  some  hazard  to  our  skiff,  and 
set  down  in  one  corner  of  the  cockpit  to  his  appointed 
task.  He  had  been  hired,  as  one  cunning  in  the  art, 
to  make  my  old  men's  beards  into  a  wreath :  what  a 
wreath  for  Celia's  arbour!  His  own  beard  (which  he 
carried,  for  greater  safety,  in  a  sailor's  knot)  was  not 
merely  the  adornment  of  his  age,  but  a  substantial  piece 
of  property.  One  hundred  dollars  was  the  estimated 
value;  and  as  Brother  Michel  never  knew  a  native  to 
deposit  a  greater  sum  with  Bishop  Dordillon,  our  friend 
was  a  rich  man  in  virtue  of  his  chin.  He  had  some- 
thing of  an  East  Indian  cast,  but  taller  and  stronger: 
his  nose  hooked,  his  face  narrow,  his  forehead  very 
high,  the  whole  elaborately  tattooed.  1  may  say  I  have 
never  entertained  a  guest  so  trying.     In  the  least  par- 

124 


CHARACTERS 

ticular  he  must  be  waited  on;  he  would  not  go  to  the 
scuttle-butt  for  water;  he  would  not  even  reach  to  get 
the  glass,  it  must  be  given  him  in  his  hand;  if  aid  were 
denied  him,  he  would  fold  his  arms,  bow  his  head,  and 
go  without:  only  the  work  would  suffer.  Early  the 
first  forenoon  he  called  aloud  for  biscuit  and  salmon; 
biscuit  and  ham  were  brought;  he  looked  on  them  in- 
scrutably, and  signed  they  should  be  set  aside.  A 
number  of  considerations  crowded  on  my  mind;  how 
the  sort  of  work  on  which  he  was  engaged  was  proba- 
bly tapu  in  a  high  degree;  should  by  rights,  perhaps, 
be  transacted  on  a  tapu  platform  which  no  female  might 
approach;  and  it  was  possible  that  fish  might  be  the 
essential  diet.  Some  salted  fish  I  therefore  brought  him, 
and  along  with  that  a  glass  of  rum:  at  sight  of  which 
Mapiao  displayed  extraordinary  animation,  pointed  to 
the  zenith,  made  a  long  speech  in  which  1  picked  up 
lunati — the  word  for  the  sun  —  and  signed  to  me  once 
more  to  place  these  dainties  out  of  reach.  At  last  I  had 
understood,  and  every  day  the  programme  was  the 
same.  At  an  early  period  of  the  morning  his  dinner 
must  be  set  forth  on  the  roof  of  the  house  and  at  a 
proper  distance,  full  in  view  but  just  out  of  reach;  and 
not  until  the  fit  hour,  which  was  the  point  of  noon, 
would  the  artificer  partake.  This  solemnity  was  the 
cause  of  an  absurd  misadventure.  He  was  seated 
plaiting,  as  usual,  at  the  beards,  his  dinner  arrayed  on 
the  roof,  and  not  far  off  a  glass  of  water  standing.  It 
appears  he  desired  to  drink;  was  of  course  far  too  great 
a  gentleman  to  rise  and  get  the  water  for  himself;  and 
spying  Mrs.  Stevenson,  imperiously  signed  to  her  to  hand 
it.     The  signal  was  misunderstood;    Mrs.  Stevenson 

125 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

was,  by  this  time,  prepared  for  any  eccentricity  on  the 
part  of  our  guest ;  and  instead  of  passing  him  the  water, 
flung  his  dinner  overboard.  I  must  do  Mapiao  justice: 
all  laughed,  but  his  laughter  rang  the  loudest. 

These  troubles  of  service  were  at  worst  occasional; 
the  embarrassment  of  the  man's  talk  incessant.  He 
was  plainly  a  practised  conversationalist ;  the  nicety  of  his 
inflections,  the  elegance  of  his  gestures,  and  the  fine 
play  of  his  expression,  told  us  that.  We,  meanwhile, 
sat  like  aliens  in  a  playhouse;  we  could  see  the  actors 
were  upon  some  material  business  and  performing  well, 
but  the  plot  of  the  drama  remained  undiscoverable. 
Names  of  places,  the  name  of  Captain  Hart,  occasional 
disconnected  words,  tantalised  without  enlightening  us ; 
and  the  less  we  understood,  the  more  gallantly,  the 
more  copiously,  and  with  still  the  more  explanatory 
gestures,  Mapiao  returned  to  the  assault.  We  could 
see  his  vanity  was  on  the  rack;  being  come  to  a  place 
where  that  fine  jewel  of  his  conversational  talent  could 
earn  him  no  respect;  and  he  had  times  of  despair  when 
he  desisted  from  the  endeavour,  and  instants  of  irrita- 
tion when  he  regarded  us  with  unconcealed  contempt. 
Yet  for  me,  as  the  practitioner  of  some  kindred  mystery 
to  his  own,  he  manifested  to  the  last  a  measure  of  re- 
spect. As  we  sat  under  the  awning,  in  opposite  cor- 
ners of  the  cockpit,  he  braiding  hairs  from  dead  men's 
chins,  I  forming  runes  upon  a  sheet  of  folio  paper,  he 
would  nod  across  to  me  as  one  Tahuku  to  another,  or, 
crossing  the  cockpit,  study  for  a  while  my  shapeless 
scrawl  and  encourage  me  with  a  heartfelt  "mttaif — 
good!"  So  might  a  deaf  painter  sympathise  far  off 
with  a  musician,  as  the  slave  and  master  of  some  un- 

126 


CHARACTERS 

comprehended  and  yet  kindred  art.  A  silly  trade  he 
doubtless  considered  it;  but  a  man  must  make  allowance 
for  barbarians  —  chaque  pays  a  scs  contiuiies —  and  he 
felt  the  principle  was  there. 

The  time  came  at  last  when  his  labours,  which  re- 
sembled those  rather  of  Penelope  than  Hercules,  could 
be  no  more  spun  out,  and  nothing  remained  but  to  pay 
him  and  say  farewell.  After  a  long,  learned  argument 
in  Marquesan,  I  gathered  that  his  mind  was  set  on  fish- 
hooks; with  three  of  which,  and  a  brace  of  dollars,  I 
thought  he  was  not  ill  rewarded  for  passing  his  forenoons 
in  our  cockpit,  eating,  drinking,  delivering  his  opinions, 
and  pressing  the  ship's  company  into  his  menial  ser- 
vice. For  all  that,  he  was  a  man  of  so  high  a  bearing, 
and  so  like  an  uncle  of  my  own  who  should  have  gone 
mad  and  got  tattooed,  that  1  applied  to  him,  when  we 
were  both  on  shore,  to  know  if  he  were  satisfied. 
"  M/hu  ebipe  ?  "  1  asked.  And  he,  with  rich  unction, 
offering  at  the  same  time  his  hand  —  "  Mitai  ebipe, 
mitai  kaekae;  haoha  mii !  " — or,  to  translate  freely: 
"  The  ship  is  good,  the  victuals  are  up  to  the  mark,  and 
we  part  in  friendship."  Which  testimonial  uttered,  he 
set  off  along  the  beach  with  his  head  bowed  and  the  air 
of  one  deeply  injured. 

I  saw  him  go,  on  my  side,  with  relief  It  would  be 
more  interesting  to  learn  how  our  relation  seemed  to 
Mapiao.  His  exigence,  we  may  suppose,  was  merely 
loyal.  He  had  been  hired  by  the  ignorant  to  do  a  piece 
of  work;  and  he  was  bound  that  he  would  do  it  the 
right  way.  Countless  obstacles,  continual  ignorant 
ridicule,  availed  not  to  dissuade  him.  He  had  his  din- 
ner  laid   out;    watched   it,  as   was   fit,  the   while   he 

127 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

worked;  ate  it  at  the  fit  hour;  was  in  all  things  served 
and  waited  on;  and  could  take  his  hire  in  the  end  with 
a  clear  conscience,  telling  himself  the  mystery  was  per- 
formed duly,  the  beards  rightfully  braided,  and  we  (in 
spite  of  ourselves)  correctly  served.  His  view  of  our 
stupidity,  even  he,  the  mighty  talker,  must  have  lacked 
language  to  express.  He  never  interfered  with  my 
Tahuku  work ;  civilly  praised  it,  idle  as  it  seemed ;  civilly 
supposed  that  1  was  competent  in  my  own  mystery: 
such  being  the  attitude  of  the  intelligent  and  the  polite. 
And  we,  on  the  other  hand  —  who  had  yet  the  most  to 
gain  or  lose,  since  the  product  was  to  be  ours  —  who 
had  professed  our  disability  by  the  very  act  of  hiring 
him  to  do  it —  were  never  weary  of  impeding  his  own 
more  important  labours,  and  sometimes  lacked  the  sense 
and  the  civility  to  refrain  from  laughing. 


12<« 


CHAPTER   XIV 


IN    A   CANNIBAL   VALLEY 


The  road  from  Taahauku  to  Atuona  skirted  the  north- 
westerly side  of  the  anchorage,  somewhat  high  up, 
edged,  and  sometimes  shaded,  by  the  splendid  flowers 
of  the  /I antboy ant — its  English  name  I  do  not  know. 
At  the  turn  of  the  land,  Atuona  came  in  view:  a  long 
beach,  a  heavy  and  loud  breach  of  surf,  a  shore-side 
village  scattered  among  trees,  and  the  guttered  moun- 
tains drawing  near  on  both  sides  above  a  narrow  and 
rich  ravine.  Its  infamous  repute  perhaps  affected  me; 
but  I  thought  it  the  loveliest,  and  by  far  the  most  omi- 
nous and  gloomy,  spot  on  earth.  Beautiful  it  surely 
was;  and  even  more  salubrious.  The  healthfulness  of 
the  whole  group  is  amazing;  that  of  Atuona  almost  in 
the  nature  of  a  miracle.  In  Atuona,  a  village  planted 
in  a  shore-side  marsh,  the  houses  standing  everywhere 
intermingled  with  the  pools  of  a  taro-garden,  we  find 
every  condition  of  tropical  danger  and  discomfort;  and 
yet  there  are  not  even  mosquitoes  —  not  even  the  hate- 
ful day-fly  of  Nuka-hiva  —  and  fever,  and  its  concomi- 
tant, the  island  fe'efe'e,^  are  unknown. 

This  is  the  chief  station  of  the  French  on  the  man- 
eating  isle  of  Hiva-oa.     The  sergeant  of  gendarmerie 

1  Elephantiasis. 
129 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

enjoys  the  style  of  the  vice-resident,  and  hoists  the 
French  colours  over  a  quite  extensive  compound.  A 
Chinaman,  a  waif  from  the  plantation,  keeps  a  restau- 
rant in  the  rear  quarters  of  the  village;  and  the  mission 
is  well  represented  by  the  sisters'  school  and  Brother 
Michel's  church.  Father  Orens,  a  wonderful  octoge- 
narian, his  frame  scarce  bowed,  the  fire  of  his  eye 
undimmed,  has  lived,  and  trembled,  and  suffered  in 
this  place  since  1843.  Again  and  again,  when  Moipu 
had  made  coco-brandy,  he  has  been  driven  from  his 
house  into  the  woods.  "  A  mouse  that  dwelt  in  a  cat's 
ear"  had  a  more  easy  resting-place;  and  yet  I  have 
never  seen  a  man  that  bore  less  mark  of  years.  He 
must  show  us  the  church,  still  decorated  with  the 
bishop's  artless  ornaments  of  paper  — the  last  work  of 
industrious  old  hands,  and  the  last  earthly  amusement 
of  a  man  that  was  much  of  a  hero.  In  the  sacristy  we 
must  see  his  sacred  vessels,  and,  in  particular,  a  vest- 
ment which  was  a  "  vraie  c  11  riosite,"  because  it  had 
been  given  by  a  gendarme.  To  the  Protestant  there  is 
always  something  embarrassing  in  the  eagerness  with 
which  grown  and  holy  men  regard  these  trifles;  but  it 
was  touching  and  pretty  to  see  Orens,  his  aged  eyes 
shining  in  his  head,  display  his  sacred  treasures. 

AugiLsf  26. —  The  vale  behind  the  village,  narrowing 
swiftly  to  a  mere  ravine,  was  choked  with  profitable 
trees.  A  river  gushed  in  the  midst.  Overhead,  the 
tall  coco-palms  made  a  primary  covering;  above  that, 
from  one  wall  of  the  mountain  to  another,  the  ravine 
was  roofed  with  cloud;  so  that  we  moved  below,  amid 
teeming  vegetation,  in  a  covered  house  of  heat.  On 
either  hand,   at  every  hundred  yards,   instead  of  the 

130 


IN    A    CANNIBAL   VALLEY 

houseless,  disembowelling  paepaes  of  Nuka-hiva,  pop- 
ulous houses  turned  out  their  inhabitants  to  cry  "Ka- 
oha  ! "  to  the  passers-by.  The  road,  too,  was  busy; 
strings  of  girls,  fair  and  foul,  as  in  less  favoured  coun- 
tries; men  bearing  breadfruit;  the  sisters,  with  a  little 
guard  of  pupils;  a  fellow  bestriding  a  horse  —  passed 
and  greeted  us  continually;  and  now  it  was  a  China- 
man who  came  to  the  gate  of  his  flower-yard,  and 
gave  us  "Good-day"  in  excellent  English;  and  a  little 
farther  on  it  would  be  some  natives  who  set  us  down 
by  the  wayside,  made  us  a  feast  of  mummy-apple,  and 
entertained  us  as  we  ate  with  drumming  on  a  tin  case. 
With  all  this  fine  plenty  of  men  and  fruit,  death  is  at 
work  here  also.  The  population,  according  to  the 
highest  estimate,  does  not  exceed  six  hundred  in  the 
whole  vale  of  Atuona;  and  yet,  when  I  once  chanced 
to  put  the  question,  Brother  Michel  counted  up  ten 
whom  he  knew  to  be  sick  beyond  recovery.  It  was 
here,  too,  that  I  could  at  last  gratify  my  curiosity  with 
the  sight  of  a  native  house  in  the  very  article  of  disso- 
lution. It  had  fallen  flat  along  the  paepae,  its  poles 
sprawling  ungainly;  the  rains  and  the  mites  contended 
against  it;  what  remained  seemed  sound  enough,  but 
much  was  gone  already;  and  it  was  easy  to  see  how 
the  insects  consumed  the  walls  as  if  they  had  been 
bread,  and  the  air  and  the  rain  ate  into  them  like  vitriol. 
A  little  ahead  of  us,  a  young  gentleman,  very  well 
tattooed,  and  dressed  in  a  pair  of  white  trousers  and  a 
flannel  shirt,  had  been  marching  unconcernedly.  Of  a 
sudden,  without  apparent  cause,  he  turned  back,  took 
us  in  possession,  and  led  us  undissuadably  along  a  by- 
path to  the  river's  edge.     There,  in  a  nook  of  the  most 

•31 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

attractive  amenity,  he  bade  us  to  sit  down:  the  stream 
splashing  at  our  elbow,  a  shock  of  nondescript  greenery 
enshrining  us  from  above;  and  thither,  after  a  brief  ab- 
sence, he  brought  us  a  cocoa-nut,  a  lump  of  sandal- 
wood, and  a  stick  he  had  begun  to  carve:  the  nut  for 
present  refreshment,  the  sandal-wood  for  a  precious 
gift,  and  the  stick  —  in  the  simplicity  of  his  vanity  —  to 
harvest  premature  praise.  Only  one  section  was  yet 
carved,  although  the  whole  was  pencil-marked  in 
lengths;  and  when  I  proposed  to  buy  it,  Poni  (for  that 
was  the  artist's  name)  recoiled  in  horror.  But  I  was 
not  to  be  moved,  and  simply  refused  restitution,  for  I 
had  long  wondered  why  a  people  who  displayed,  in 
their  tattooing,  so  great  a  gift  of  arabesque  invention, 
should  display  it  nowhere  else.  Here,  at  last,  1  had 
found  something  of  the  same  talent  in  another  medium ; 
and  I  held  the  incompleteness,  in  these  days  of  world- 
wide brummagem,  for  a  happy  mark  of  authenticity. 
Neither  my  reasons  nor  my  purpose  had  I  the  means 
of  making  clear  to  Poni;  I  could  only  hold  on  to  the 
stick,  and  bid  the  artist  follow  me  to  the  gendarmerie, 
where  1  should  find  interpreters  and  money;  but  we 
gave  him,  in  the  meanwhile,  a  boat-call  in  return  for  his 
sandal-wood.  As  he  came  behind  us  down  the  vale 
he  sounded  upon  this  continually.  And  continually, 
from  the  wayside  houses,  there  poured  forth  little 
groups  of  girls  in  crimson,  or  of  men  in  white.  And 
to  these  must  Poni  pass  the  news  of  who  the  strangers 
were,  of  what  they  had  been  doing,  of  why  it  was 
that  Poni  had  a  boat-whistle;  and  of  why  he  was  now 
being  haled  to  the  vice-residency,  uncertain  whether  to 
be  punished  or  rewarded,  uncertain  whether  he  had 


IN    A   CANNIBAL   VALLEY 

lost  a  Stick  or  made  a  bargain,  but  hopeful  on  the 
whole,  and  in  the  meanwhile  highly  consoled  by  the 
boat-whistle.  Whereupon  he  would  tear  himself  away 
from  this  particular  group  of  inquirers,  and  once  more 
we  would  hear  the  shrill  call  in  our  wake. 

August  27. — I  made  a  more  extended  circuit  in  the 
vale  with  Brother  Michel.  We  were  mounted  on  a  pair 
of  sober  nags,  suitable  to  these  rude  paths;  the  weather 
was  exquisite,  and  the  company  in  which  I  found  my- 
self no  less  agreeable  than  the  scenes  through  which  1 
passed.  We  mounted  at  first  by  a  steep  grade  along 
the  summit  of  one  of  those  twisted  spurs  that,  from  a 
distance,  mark  out  provinces  of  sun  and  shade  upon  the 
mountain-side.  The  ground  fell  away  on  either  hand 
with  an  extreme  declivity.  From  either  hand,  out  of 
profound  ravines,  mounted  the  song  of  falling  water 
and  the  smoke  of  household  fires.  Here  and  there  the 
hills  of  foliage  would  divide,  and  our  eye  would  plunge 
down  upon  one  of  these  deep-nested  habitations.  And 
still,  high  in  front,  arose  the  precipitous  barrier  of  the 
mountain,  greened  over  where  it  seemed  that  scarce  a 
harebell  could  find  root,  barred  with  the  zigzags  of  a 
human  road  where  it  seemed  that  not  a  goat  could 
scramble.  And  in  truth,  for  all  the  labour  that  it  cost, 
the  road  is  regarded  even  by  the  Marquesans  as  impas- 
sable; they  will  not  risk  a  horse  on  that  ascent;  and 
those  who  lie  to  the  westward  come  and  go  in  their 
canoes.  1  never  knew  a  hill  to  lose  so  little  on  a  near 
approach:  a  consequence,  I  must  suppose,  of  its  sur- 
prising steepness.  When  we  turned  about,  I  was 
amazed  to  behold  so  deep  a  view  behind,  and  so  high 
a  shoulder  of  blue  sea,  crowned  by  the  whale-like  island 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

of  Motane.  And  yet  the  wall  of  mountain  had  not  vis- 
ibly dwindled,  and  I  could  even  have  fancied,  as  I  raised 
my  eyes  to  measure  it,  that  it  loomed  higher  than 
before. 

We  struck  now  into  covert  paths,  crossed  and  heard 
more  near  at  hand  the  bickering  of  the  streams,  and 
tasted  the  coolness  of  those  recesses  where  the  houses 
stood.  The  birds  sang  about  us  as  we  descended.  All 
along  our  path  my  guide  was  being  hailed  by  voices: 
"  Mikael  —  Kaoha,  Mikael!  "  From  the  doorstep,  from 
the  cotton-patch,  or  out  of  the  deep  grove  of  island- 
chestnuts,  these  friendly  cries  arose,  and  were  cheerily 
answered  as  we  passed.  In  a  sharp  angle  of  a  glen,  on 
a  rushing  brook  and  under  fathoms  of  cool  foliage,  we 
struck  a  house  upon  a  well-built  paepae,  the  fire  brightly 
burning  under  the  popoi-shed  against  the  evening  meal; 
and  here  the  cries  became  a  chorus,  and  the  house  folk, 
running  out,  obliged  us  to  dismount  and  breathe.  It 
seemed  a  numerous  family:  we  saw  eight  at  least;  and 
one  of  these  honoured  me  with  a  particular  attention. 
This  was  the  mother,  a  woman  naked  to  the  waist,  of 
an  aged  countenance,  but  with  hair  still  copious  and 
black,  and  breasts  still  erect  and  youthful.  On  our  ar- 
rival I  could  see  she  remarked  me,  but  instead  of  offering 
anv  greeting,  disappe;ired  at  once  into  the  bush.  Thence 
she  returned  with  two  crimson  flowers.  "  Good-bye!  " 
was  her  salutation,  uttered  not  without  coquetry;  and 
as  she  said  it  she  pressed  the  flowers  into  my  hand  — 
"Good-bye!  I  speak  Inglis."  It  was  from  a  whaler- 
man,  who  (she  informed  me)  was  "a  plenty  good 
chap,'"  that  she  had  learned  my  language;  and  I  could 
not  but  think  how  handsome  she  must  have  been  in 

'34 


IN    A   CANNIBAL   VALLEY 

these  times  of  her  youth,  and  could  not  but  guess  that 
some  memories  of  the  dandy  whaler-man  prompted  her 
attentions  to  myself.  Nor  could  I  refrain  from  wonder- 
ing what  had  befallen  her  lover;  in  the  rain  and  mire 
of  what  sea-ports  he  had  tramped  since  then;  in  what 
close  and  garish  drinking-dens  had  found  his  pleasure; 
and  in  the  ward  of  what  infirmary  dreamed  his  last  of 
the  Marquesas.  But  she,  the  more  fortunate,  lived  on 
in  her  green  island.  The  talk,  in  this  lost  house  upon 
the  mountains,  ran  chiefly  upon  Mapiao  and  his  visits 
to  the  Casco:  the  news  of  which  had  probably  gone 
abroad  by  then  to  all  the  island,  so  that  there  was  no 
paepae  in  Hiva-oa  where  they  did  not  make  the  subject 
of  excited  comment. 

Not  much  beyond  we  came  upon  a  high  place  in  the 
foot  of  the  ravine.  Two  roads  divided  it,  and  met  in 
the  midst.  Save  for  this  intersection  the  amphitheatre 
was  strangely  perfect,  and  had  a  certain  ruder  air  of 
things  Roman.  Depths  of  foliage  and  the  bulk  of  the 
mountain  kept  it  in  a  grateful  shadow.  On  the  benches 
several  young  folk  sat  clustered  or  apart.  One  of  these, 
a  girl  perhaps  fourteen  years  of  age,  buxom  and  comely, 
caught  the  eye  of  Brother  Michel.  Why  was  she  not 
at  school?  —  she  was  done  with  school  now.  What 
was  she  doing  here  ?  —  she  lived  here  now.  Why  so  } 
—  no  answer  but  a  deepening  blush.  There  was  no  se- 
verity in  Brother  Michel's  manner;  the  girl's  own  con- 
fusion told  her  story.  "  Elle  a  boiite,"  was  the  mission- 
ary's comment,  as  we  rode  away.  Near  by  in  the 
stream,  a  grown  girl  was  bathing  naked  in  a  goyle  be- 
tween two  stepping-stones;  and  it  amused  me  to  see 
with  what  alacrity  and  real  alarm  she  bounded  on  her 

>35 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

many-coloured  under-clothes.    Even  in  these  daughters 
of  cannibals  shame  was  eloquent. 

It  is  in  Hiva-oa,  owing  to  the  inveterate  cannibalism 
of  the  natives,  that  local  beliefs  have  been  most  rudely 
trodden  underfoot.  It  was  here  that  three  religious 
chiefs  were  set  under  a  bridge,  and  the  women  of  the 
valley  made  to  defile  over  their  heads  upon  the  road- 
way: the  poor,  dishonoured  fellows  sitting  there  (all 
observers  agree)  with  streaming  tears.  Not  only  was 
one  road  driven  across  the  high  place,  but  two  roads 
intersected  in  its  midst.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  the  last  was  done  of  purpose,  and  perhaps  it  was 
impossible  entirely  to  avoid  the  numerous  sacred  places 
of  the  islands.  But  these  things  are  not  done  without- 
result.  I  have  spoken  already  of  the  regard  of  Mar- 
quesans  for  the  dead,  making  (as  it  does)  so  strange  a 
contrast  with  their  unconcern  for  death.  Early  on  this 
day's  ride,  for  instance,  we  encountered  a  petty  chief, 
who  inquired  (of  course)  where  we  were  going,  and 
suggested  by  way  of  amendment:  "Why  do  you  not 
rather  show  him  the  cemetery.^"  I  saw  it;  it  was  but 
newly  opened,  the  third  within  eight  years.  They  are 
great  builders  here  in  Hiva-oa ;  I  saw  in  my  ride  paepaes 
that  no  European  dry-stone  mason  could  have  equalled, 
the  black  volcanic  stones  were  laid  so  justly,  the  corners 
were  so  precise,  the  levels  so  true;  but  the  retaining- 
wall  of  the  new  graveyard  stood  apart,  and  seemed  to 
be  a  work  of  love.  The  sentiment  of  honour  for  the 
dead  is  therefore  not  extinct.  And  yet  observe  the  con- 
sequence of  violently  countering  men's  opinions.  Of 
the  four  prisoners  in  Atuona  gaol,  three  were  of  course 
thieves;   the  fourth  was  there  for  sacrilege.     He  had 

136 


IN    A   CANNIBAL   VALLEY 

levelled  up  a  piece  of  the  graveyard  —  to  give  a  feast 
upon,  as  he  informed  the  court — and  declared  he  had 
no  thought  of  doing  wrong.  Why  should  he?  He  had 
been  forced  at  the  point  of  the  bayonet  to  destroy  the 
sacred  places  of  his  own  piety;  when  he  had  recoiled 
from  the  task,  he  had  been  jeered  at  for  a  superstitious 
fool.  And  now  it  is  supposed  he  will  respect  our 
European  superstitions  as  by  second  nature. 


"37 


CHAPTER  XV 

THE   TWO   CHIEFS   OF   ATUONA 

It  had  chanced  (as  the  Casco  beat  through  the  Borde- 
lais  Straits  for  Taahauku)  she  approached  on  one  board 
very  near  the  land  in  the  opposite  isle  of  Tauata,  where 
houses  were  to  be  seen  in  a  grove  of  tall  coco-palms. 
Brother  Michel  pointed  out  the  spot.  "I  am  at  home 
now,"  said  he.  "  I  believe  I  have  a  large  share  in  these 
cocoa-nuts;  and  in  that  house  madame  my  mother 
lives  with  her  two  husbands!  "With  two  husbands.^" 
somebody  inquired.  "C'e^st  ma  honte,"  replied  the 
brother  dryly. 

A  word  in  passing  on  the  two  husbands.  1  conceive 
the  brother  to  have  expressed  himself  loosely.  It  seems 
common  enough  to  find  a  native  lady  with  two  con- 
sorts; but  these  are  not  two  husbands.  The  first  is 
still  the  husband;  the  wife  continues  to  be  referred  to 
by  his  name ;  and  the  position  of  the  coadjutor,  or  pikio, 
although  quite  regular,  appears  undoubtedly  subordi- 
nate. We  had  opportunities  to  observe  one  household 
of  the  sort.  The  pikio  was  recognised ;  appeared  openly 
along  with  the  husband  when  the  lady  was  thought  to 
be  insulted,  and  the  pair  made  common  cause  like 
brothers.  At  home  the  inequality  was  more  apparent. 
The  husband  sat  to  receive  and  entertain  visitors;  the 


THE   TWO   CHIEFS  OF   ATUONA 

pikio  was  running  the  while  to  fetch  cocoa-nuts  like  a 
hired  servant,  and  1  remarked  he  was  sent  on  these  er- 
rands in  preference  even  to  the  son.  Plainly  we  have 
here  no  second  husband ;  plainly  we  have  the  tolerated 
lover.  Only,  in  the  Marquesas,  instead  of  carrying  his 
lady's  flm  and  mantle,  he  must  turn  his  hand  to  do  the 
husband's  housework. 

The  sight  of  Brother  Michel's  family  estate  led  the 
conversation  for  some  while  upon  the  method  and  con- 
sequence of  artificial  kinship.  Our  curiosity  became 
extremely  whetted ;  the  brother  offered  to  have  the 
whole  of  us  adopted,  and  some  two  days  later  we  be- 
came accordingly  the  children  of  Paaaeua,  appointed 
chief  of  Atuona.  I  was  unable  to  be  present  at  the  cere- 
mony, which  was  primitively  simple.  The  two  Mrs. 
Stevensons  and  Mr.  Osbourne,  along  with  Paaaeua,  his 
wife,  and  an  adopted  child  of  theirs,  son  of  a  ship- 
wrecked Austrian,  sat  down  to  an  excellent  island  meal, 
of  which  the  principal  and  the  only  necessary  dish  was 
pig.  A  concourse  watched  them  through  the  apertures 
of  the  house;  but  none,  not  even  Brother  Michel,  might 
partake;  for  the  meal  was  sacramental,  and  either  cre- 
ative or  declaratory  of  the  new  relationship.  In  Tahiti 
things  are  not  so  strictly  ordered;  whenOriandl  "made 
brothers,"  both  our  families  sat  with  us  at  table,  yet 
only  he  and  I,  who  had  eaten  with  intention,  were  sup- 
posed to  be  affected  by  the  ceremony.  For  the  adop- 
tion of  an  infant  I  believe  no  formality  to  be  required; 
the  child  is  handed  over  by  the  natural  parents,  and 
grows  up  to  inherit  the  estates  of  the  adoptive.  Pres- 
ents are  doubtless  exchanged,  as  at  all  junctures  of 
island  life,  social  or  international;  but  I  never  heard  of 

^}9 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

any  banquet  —  the  child's  presence  at  the  daily  board 
perhaps  sufficing.  We  may  find  the  rationale  in  the 
ancient  Arabian  idea  that  a  common  diet  makes  a  com- 
mon blood,  with  its  derivative  axiom  that  "he  is  the 
father  who  gives  the  child  its  morning  draught."  In  the 
Marquesan  practice,  the  sense  would  thus  be  evanes- 
cent; from  the  Tahitian,  a  mere  survival,  it  will  have 
entirely  fled.  An  interesting  parallel  will  probably  oc- 
cur to  many  of  my  readers. 

What  is  the  nature  of  the  obligation  assumed  at  such 
a  festival  ?  It  will  vary  with  the  characters  of  those  en- 
gaged, and  with  the  circumstances  of  the  case.  Thus 
it  would  be  absurd  to  take  too  seriously  our  adoption 
at  Atuona,  On  the  part  of  Paaaeua  it  was  an  affair  of 
social  ambition;  when  he  agreed  to  receive  us  in  his 
family  the  man  had  not  so  much  as  seen  us,  and  knew 
only  that  we  were  inestimably  rich  and  travelled  in  a 
floating  palace.  We,  upon  our  side,  ate  of  his  baked 
meats  with  no  true  auimws  affiliaiidi,  but  moved  by 
the  single  sentiment  of  curiosity.  The  affair  was  formal, 
and  a  matter  of  parade,  as  when  in  Europe  sovereigns 
call  each  other  cousin.  Yet,  had  we  stayed  at  Atuona, 
Paaaeua  would  have  held  himself  bound  to  establish  us 
upon  his  land,  and  to  set  apart  young  men  for  our  ser- 
vice, and  trees  for  our  support.  I  have  mentioned  the 
Austrian.  He  sailed  in  one  of  two  sister  ships,  which 
left  the  Clyde  in  coal;  both  rounded  the  Horn,  and  both, 
at  several  hundred  miles  of  distance,  though  close  on 
the  same  point  of  time,  took  fire  at  sea  on  the  Pacific. 
One  was  destroyed ;  the  derelict  iron  frame  of  the  sec- 
ond, after  long,  aimless  cruising,  was  at  length  recov- 
ered, refitted,  and  hails  to-day  from  San  Francisco.     A 

140 


THE  TWO   CHIEFS   OF   ATUONA 

boat's  crew  from  one  of  these  disasters  reached,  after 
great  hardships,  the  isle  of  Hiva-oa.  Some  of  these  men 
vowed  they  would  never  again  confront  the  chances  of 
the  sea;  but  alone  of  them  all  the  Austrian  has  been  ex- 
actly true  to  his  engagement,  remains  where  he  landed, 
and  designs  to  die  where  he  has  lived.  Now,  with  such 
a  man,  falling  and  taking  root  among  islanders,  the 
processes  described  may  be  compared  to  a  gardener's 
graft.  He  passes  bodily  into  the  native  stock;  ceases 
wholly  to  be  alien;  has  entered  the  commune  of  the 
blood,  shares  the  prosperity  and  consideration  of  his 
new  family,  and  is  expected  to  impart  with  the  same 
generosity  the  fruits  of  his  European  skill  and  know- 
ledge. It  is  this  implied  engagement  that  so  frequently 
offends  the  ingrafted  white.  To  snatch  an  immediate 
advantage  —  to  get  (let  us  say)  a  station  for  his  store  — 
he  will  play  upon  the  native  custom  and  become  a  son 
or  a  brother  for  the  day,  promising  himself  to  cast  down 
the  ladder  by  which  he  shall  have  ascended,  and  repu- 
diate the  kinship  so  soon  as  it  shall  grow  burdensome. 
And  he  finds  there  are  two  parties  to  the  bargain.  Per- 
haps his  Polynesian  relative  is  simple,  and  conceived 
the  blood-bond  literally;  perhaps  he  is  shrewd,  and 
himself  entered  the  covenant  with  a  view  to  gain. 
And  either  way  the  store  is  ravaged,  the  house  littered 
with  lazy  natives;  and  the  richer  the  man  grows,  the 
more  numerous,  the  more  idle,  and  the  more  affection- 
ate he  finds  his  native  relatives.  Most  men  thus  circum- 
stanced contrive  to  buy  or  brutally  manage  to  enforce 
their  independence;  but  many  vegetate  without  hope, 
strangled  by  parasites. 

We  had  no  cause  to  blush  with  Brother  Michel.    Our 
141 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

new  parents  were  kind,  gentle,  well-mannered,  and  gen- 
erous in  gifts;  the  wife  was  a  most  motherly  woman, 
the  husband  a  man  who  stood  justly  high  with  his 
employers.  Enough  has  been  said  to  show  why  Moipu 
should  be  deposed;  and  in  Paaaeua  the  French  had 
found  a  reputable  substitute.  He  went  always  scrupu- 
lously dressed,  and  looked  the  picture  of  propriety,  like 
a  dark,  handsome,  stupid,  and  probably  religious  young 
man  hot  from  a  European  funeral.  In  character  he 
seemed  the  ideal  of  what  is  known  as  the  good  citizen. 
He  wore  gravity  like  an  ornament.  None  could  more 
nicely  represent  the  desired  character  as  an  appointed 
chief,  the  outpost  of  civilisation  and  reform.  And  yet, 
were  the  French  to  go  and  native  manners  to  revive, 
fancy  beholds  him  crowned  with  old  men's  beards  and 
crowding  with  the  first  to  a  man-eating  festival.  But 
I  must  not  seem  to  be  unjust  to  Paaaeua.  His  respecta- 
bility went  deeper  than  the  skin;  his  sense  of  the  be- 
coming sometimes  nerved  him  for  unexpected  rigours. 
One  evening  Captain  Otis  and  Mr.  Osbourne  were  on 
shore  in  the  village.  All  was  agog;  dancing  had  begun ; 
it  was  plain  it  was  to  be  a  night  of  festival,  and  our 
adventurers  were  overjoyed  at  their  good  fortune.  A 
strong  Ml  of  rain  drove  them  for  shelter  to  the  house 
of  Paaaeua,  where  they  were  made  welcome,  wiled  into 
a  chamber,  and  shut  in.  Presently  the  rain  took  off,  the 
fun  was  to  begin  in  earnest,  and  the  young  bloods  of 
Atuona  came  round  the  house  and  called  to  my  fellow- 
travellers  through  the  interstices  of  the  wall.  Late  into 
the  night  the  calls  were  continued  and  resumed,  and 
sometimes  mingled  with  taunts;  late  into  the  night  the 
prisoners,  tantalized  by  the  noises  of  the  festival,  re- 

142 


THE  TWO   CHIEFS  OF  ATUONA 

newed  their  efforts  to  escape.  But  all  was  vain ;  right 
across  the  door  lay  that  god-fearing  householder,  Paa- 
aeua,  feigning  sleep;  and  my  friends  had  to  forgo  their 
junketing.  In  this  incident,  so  delightfully  European, 
we  thought  we  could  detect  three  strands  of  sentiment. 
In  the  first  place,  Paaaeua  had  a  charge  of  souls:  these 
were  young  men,  and  he  judged  it  right  to  withhold 
them  from  the  primrose  path.  Secondly,  he  was  a  pub- 
lic character,  and  it  was  not  fitting  that  his  guests  should 
countenance  a  festival  of  which  he  disapproved.  So 
might  some  strict  clergyman  at  home  address  a  worldly 
visitor:  "Go  to  the  theatre  if  you  like,  but,  by  your 
leave,  not  from  my  house!"  Thirdly,  Paaaeua  was  a 
man  jealous  and  with  some  cause  (as  shall  be  shown) 
for  jealousy;  and  the  feasters  were  the  satellites  of  his 
immediate  rival,  Moipu. 

For  the  adoption  had  caused  much  excitement  in  the 
village;  it  made  the  strangers  popular.  Paaaeua,  in  his 
difficult  posture  of  appointed  chief,  drew  strength  and 
dignity  from  their  alliance,  and  only  Moipu  and  his  fol- 
lowers were  malcontent.  For  some  reason,  nobody 
(except  myself)  appears  to  dislike  Moipu.  Captain 
Hart,  v/ho  has  been  robbed  and  threatened  by  him; 
Father  Orens,  whom  he  has  fired  at,  and  repeatedly 
driven  to  the  woods;  my  own  family,  and  even  the 
French  officials — all  seemed  smitten  with  an  irrepress- 
ible affection  for  the  man.  His  fall  had  been  made  soft; 
his  son,  upon  his  death,  was  to  succeed  Paaaeua  in  the 
chieftaincy;  and  he  lived,  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  in  the 
shoreward  part  of  the  village  in  a  good  house,  and  with 
a  strong  following  of  young  men,  his  late  braves  and 
pot-hunters.     In  this  society,  the  coming  of  the  Casco, 

•43 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

the  adoption,  the  return  feast  on  board,  and  the  pres- 
ents exchanged  between  the  whites  and  their  new  pa- 
rents, were  doubtless  eagerly  and  bitterly  canvassed. 
It  was  felt  that  a  few  years  ago  the  honours  would  have 
gone  elsewhere,  in  this  unwonted  business,  in  this  re- 
ception of  some  hitherto  undreamed-of  and  outlandish 
potentate  —  some  Prester  John  or  old  Assaracus  —  a  few 
years  back  it  would  have  been  the  part  of  Moipu  to  play 
the  hero  and  the  host,  and  his  young  men  would  have 
accompanied  and  adorned  the  various  celebrations  as 
the  acknowledged  leaders  of  society.  And  now,  by  a 
malign  vicissitude  of  fortune,  Moipu  must  sit  in  his 
house  quite  unobserved ;  and  his  young  men  could  but 
look  in  at  the  door  the  while  their  rivals  feasted.  Per- 
haps M,  Grevy  felt  a  touch  of  bitterness  towards  his 
successor  when  he  beheld  him  figure  on  the  broad  stage 
of  the  centenary  of  eighty-nine;  the  visit  of  the  Casco 
which  Moipu  had  missed  by  so  few  years  was  a  more 
unusual  occasion  in  Atuona  than  a  centenary  in  France; 
and  the  dethroned  chief  determined  to  reassert  himself 
in  the  public  eye, 

Mr.  Osbourne  had  gone  into  Atuona  photographing; 
the  population  of  the  village  had  gathered  together  for 
the  occasion  on  the  place  before  the  church,  and  Paaaeua, 
highly  delighted  with  this  new  appearance  of  his  family, 
played  the  master  of  ceremonies.  The  church  had  been 
taken,  with  its  jolly  architect  before  the  door;  the  nuns 
with  their  pupils;  sundry  damsels  in  the  ancient  and 
singularly  unbecoming  robes  of  tapa ;  and  Father  Orens 
in  the  midst  of  a  group  of  his  parishioners,  I  know  not 
what  else  was  at  hand,  when  the  photographer  became 
aware  of  a  sensation  in  the  crowd,  and,  looking  around, 

'44 


THE   TWO   CHIEFS   OF   ATUONA 

beheld  a  very  noble  figure  of  a  man.  appear  upon  the 
margin  of  a  thicket  and  stroll  nonchalantly  near.  The 
nonchalance  was  visibly  affected;  it  was  plain  he  came 
there  to  arouse  attention,  and  his  success  was  instant. 
He  was  introduced;  he  was  civil,  he  was  obliging,  he 
was  always  ineffably  superior  and  certain  of  himself;  a 
well-graced  actor.  It  was  presently  suggested  that  he 
should  appear  in  his  war  costume;  he  gracefully  con- 
sented ;  and  returned  in  that  strange,  inappropriate,  and 
ill-omened  array  (which  very  well  became  his  handsome 
person)  to  strut  in  a  circle  of  admirers,  and  be  thenceforth 
the  centre  of  photography.  Thus  had  Moipu  effected 
his  introduction,  as  by  accident,  to  the  white  strangers, 
made  it  a  favour  to  display  his  finery,  and  reduced  his 
rival  to  a  secondary  role  on  the  theatre  of  the  disputed 
village.  Paaauea  felt  the  blow ;  and,  with  a  spirit  which 
we  never  dreamed  he  could  possess,  asserted  his  pri- 
ority. It  was  found  impossible  that  day  to  get  a 
photograph  of  Moipu  alone;  for  whenever  he  stood  up 
before  the  camera  his  successor  placed  himself  unbidden 
by  his  side,  and  gently  but  firmly  held  to  his  position. 
The  portraits  of  the  pair,  Jacob  and  Esau,  standing 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  one  in  his  careful  European  dress, 
one  in  his  barbaric  trappings,  figure  the  past  and  pres- 
ent of  their  island.  A  graveyard  with  its  humble  crosses 
would  be  the  aptest  symbol  of  the  future. 

We  are  all  impressed  with  the  belief  that  Moipu  had 
planned  his  campaign  from  the  beginning  to  the  end. 
it  is  certain  that  he  lost  no  time  in  pushing  his  advan- 
tage. Mr.  Osbourne  was  inveigled  to  his  house;  various 
gifts  were  fished  out  of  an  old  sea-chest;  Father  Orens 
was  called  into  service  as  interpreter,  and  Moipu  for- 

•45 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

mally  proposed  to  "make  brothers"  with  Mata-Galahi 
—  Glass-Eyes, —  the  not  very  euphonious  name  under 
which  Mr.  Osbourne  passed  in  the  Marquesas.  The 
feast  of  brotherhood  took  place  on  board  the  Casco. 
Paaaeua  had  arrived  with  his  family,  like  a  plain  man; 
and  his  presents,  which  had  been  numerous,  had  fol- 
lowed one  another,  at  intervals  through  several  days. 
Moipu,  as  if  to  mark  at  every  point  the  opposition, 
came  with  a  certain  feudal  pomp,  attended  by  retain- 
ers bearing  gifts  of  all  descriptions,  from  plumes  of  old 
men's  beard  to  little,  pious,  Catholic  engravings. 

I  had  met  the  man  before  this  in  the  village,  and  de- 
tested him  on  sight;  there  was  something  indescribably 
raffish  in  his  looks  and  ways  that  raised  my  gorge; 
and  when  man-eating  was  referred  to,  and  he  laughed 
a  low,  cruel  laugh,  part  boastful,  part  bashful,  like  one 
reminded  of  some  dashing  peccadillo,  my  repugnance 
was  mingled  with  nausea.  This  is  no  very  human  at- 
titude, nor  one  at  all  becoming  in  a  traveller.  And, 
seen  more  privately,  the  man  improved.  Something 
negroid  in  character  and  fiice  was  still  displeasing;  but 
his  ugly  mouth  became  attractive  when  he  smiled,  his 
figure  and  bearing  were  certainly  noble,  and  his  eyes 
superb.  In  his  appreciation  of  jams  and  pickles,  in 
his  delight  in  the  reverberating  mirrors  of  the  dining 
cabin,  and  consequent  endless  repetition  of  Moipus  and 
Mata-Galahis,  he  showed  himself  engagingly  a  child. 
And  yet  I  am  not  sure;  and  what  seemed  childishness 
may  have  been  rather  courtly  art.  His  manners  struck 
me  as  beyond  the  mark;  they  were  refined  and  caress- 
ing to  the  point  of  grossness,  and  when  I  think  of  the 
serene  absent-mindedness  with  which  he  first  strolled 

146 


THE  TWO   CHIEFS   OF   ATUONA 

in  upon  our  party,  and  then  recall  him  running  on 
hands  and  knees  along  the  cabin  sofas,  pawing  the 
velvet,  dipping  into  the  beds,  and  bleating  commenda- 
tory "  mitals  "  with  exaggerated  emphasis,  like  some 
enormous  over-mannered  ape,  1  feel  the  more  sure  that 
both  must  have  been  calculated.  And  1  sometimes 
wonder  next,  if  Moipu  were  quite  alone  in  this  polite 
duplicity,  and  ask  myself  whether  the  Cas.co  were 
quite  so  much  admired  in  the  Marquesas  as  our  visitors 
desired  us  to  suppose. 

1  will  complete  the  sketch  of  an  incurable  cannibal 
grandee  with  two  incongruous  traits.  His  favourite 
morsel  was  the  human  hand,  of  which  he  speaks  to- 
day with  an  ill-f:wored  lustfulness.  And  when  he  said 
good-bye  to  Mrs.  Stevenson,  holding  her  hand,  view- 
ing her  with  tearful  eyes,  and  chanting  his  farewell  im- 
provisation in  the  falsetto  of  Marquesan  high  society, 
he  wrote  upon  her  mind  a  sentimental  impression 
which  1  try  in  vain  to  share. 


•47 


PART   II:    THE   PAUMOTUS 


CHAPTER   I 

THE   DANGEROUS   ARCHIPELAGO  —  ATOLLS   AT   A    DISTANCE 

IN  the  early  morning  of  4th  September  a  whale-boat 
manned  by  natives  dragged  us  down  the  green  lane 
of  the  anchorage  and  round  the  spouting  promontory. 
On  the  shore  level  it  was  a  hot,  breathless,  and  yet 
crystal  morning;  but  high  overhead  the  hills  of  Atuona 
were  all  cowled  in  cloud,  and  the  ocean-river  of  the 
trades  streamed  without  pause.  As  we  crawled  from 
under  the  immediate  shelter  of  the  land,  we  reached 
at  last  the  limit  of  their  influence.  The  wind  fell  upon 
our  sails  in  puffs,  which  strengthened  and  grew  more 
continuous;  presently  the  Cmco  heeled  down  to  her 
day's  work;  the  whale-boat,  quite  outstripped,  clung 
for  a  noisy  moment  to  her  quarter;  the  stipulated 
bread,  rum,  and  tobacco  were  passed  in ;  a  moment 
more  and  the  boat  was  in  our  wake,  and  our  late  pilots 
were  cheering  our  departure. 

This  was  the  more  inspiriting  as  we  were  bound  for 
scenes  so  different,  and  though  on  a  brief  voyage,  yet 
for  a  new  province  of  creation.  That  wide  field  of 
ocean,  called  loosely  the  South  Seas,  extends  from 
tropic  to  tropic,  and  from  perhaps  120  degrees  W.  to 
150  degrees  E.,  a  parallelogram  of  one  hundred  degrees 
by  forty-seven,  where  degrees  are  the  most  spacious. 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

Much  of  it  lies  vacant,  much  is  closely  sown  with  isles, 
and  the  isles  are  of  two  sorts.  No  distinction  is  so  con- 
tinually dwelt  upon  in  South  Sea  talk  as  that  between 
the  "low"  and  the  "high"  island,  and  there  is  none 
more  broadly  marked  in  nature.  The  Himalayas  are 
not  more  different  from  the  Sahara.  On  the  one  hand, 
and  chiefly  in  groups  of  from  eight  to  a  dozen,  volcanic 
islands  rise  above  the  sea;  few  reach  an  altitude  of  less 
than  4000  feet;  one  exceeds  13,000;  their  tops  are  often 
obscured  in  cloud,  they  are  all  clothed  with  various 
forests,  all  abound  in  food,  and  are  all  remarkable  for 
picturesque  and  solemn  scenery.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  have  the  atoll;  a  thing  of  problematic  origin  and 
history,  the  reputed  creature  of  an  insect  apparently 
unidentified;  rudely  annular  in  shape;  enclosing  a  la- 
goon; rarely  extending  beyond  a  quarter  of  a  mile  at 
its  chief  width;  often  rising  at  its  highest  point  to  less 
than  the  stature  of  a  man  —  man  himself,  the  rat  and 
the  land  crab,  its  chief  inhabitants;  not  more  variously 
supplied  with  plants;  and  offering  to  the  eye,  even 
when  perfect,  only  a  ring  of  glittering  beach  and  ver- 
dant foliage,  enclosing  and  enclosed  by  the  blue  sea. 

In  no  quarter  are  the  atolls  so  thickly  congregated, 
in  none  are  they  so  varied  in  size  from  the  greatest  to 
the  least,  and  in  none  is  navigation  so  beset  with  perils, 
as  in  that  archipelago  that  we  were  now  to  thread. 
The  huge  system  of  the  trades  is,  for  some  reason,  quite 
confounded  by  this  multiplicity  of  reefs;  the  wind  in- 
termits, squalls  are  frequent  from  the  west  and  south- 
west, hurricanes  are  known.  The  currents  are,  besides, 
inextricably  intermixed;  dead  reckoning  becomes  a 
farce;  the  charts  are  not  to  be  trusted;  and  such  is  the 

153 


THE   DANGEROUS    ARCHIPELAGO 

number  and  similarity  of  these  islands  that,  even  when 
you  have  picked  one  up,  you  may  be  none  the  wiser. 
The  reputation  of  the  place  is  consequently  infamous; 
insurance  offices  exclude  it  from  their  field,  and  it  was 
not  without  misgiving  that  my  captain  risked  the  Casco 
in  such  waters.  I  believe,  indeed,  it  is  almost  under- 
stood that  yachts  are  to  avoid  this  baffling  archipelago; 
and  it  required  all  my  instances  —  and  all  Mr.  Otis's 
private  taste  for  adventure — to  deflect  our  course  across 
its  midst. 

For  a  few  days  we  sailed  with  a  steady  trade,  and  a 
steady  westerly  current  setting  us  to  leeward;  and 
toward  sundown  of  the  seventh  it  was  supposed  we 
should  have  sighted  Takaroa,  one  of  Cook's  so-called 
King  George  Islands.  The  sun  set;  yet  a  while  longer 
the  old  moon  —  semi-brilliant  herself,  and  with  a  silver 
belly,  which  was  her  successor  —  sailed  among  gather- 
ing clouds;  she,  too,  deserted  us;  stars  of  every  degree 
of  sheen,  and  clouds  of  every  variety  of  form  disputed 
the  sub-lustrous  night;  and  still  we  gazed  in  vain  for 
Takaroa.  The  mate  stood  on  the  bowsprit,  his  tall 
grey  figure  slashing  up  and  down  against  the  stars, 
and  still 

nihil  astra  praeter 
Vidit  et  undas. 

The  rest  of  us  were  grouped  at  the  port  anchor  davit, 
staring  with  no  less  assiduity,  but  with  far  less  hope 
on  the  obscure  horizon.  Islands  we  beheld  in  plenty, 
but  they  were  of  "such  stuff  as  dreams  are  made  on," 
and  vanished  at  a  wink,  only  to  appear  in  other  places; 
and  by  and  by  not  only  islands,  but  refulgent  and  re- 

153 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

volving  lights  began  to  stud  the  darkness;  light-houses 
of  the  mind  or  of  the  wearied  optic  nerve,  solemnly 
shining  and  winking  as  we  passed.  At  length  the 
mate  himself  despaired,  scrambled  on  board  again  from 
his  unrestful  perch,  and  announced  that  we  had  missed 
our  destination.  He  was  the  only  man  of  practice  in 
these  waters,  our  sole  pilot,  shipped  for  that  end  at 
Tai-o-hae.  If  he  declared  we  had  missed  Takaroa,  it 
was  not  for  us  to  quarrel  with  the  fact,  but,  if  we  could, 
to  explain  it.  We  had  certainly  run  down  our  south- 
ing. Our  canted  wake  upon  the  sea  and  our  somewhat 
drunken-looking  course  upon  the  chart  both  testified 
with  no  less  certainty  to  an  impetuous  westward  cur- 
rent. We  had  no  choice  but  to  conclude  we  were  again 
set  down  to  leeward;  and  the  best  we  could  do  was 
to  bring  the  Casco  to  the  wind,  keep  a  good  watch, 
and  expect  morning. 

I  slept  that  night,  as  was  then  my  somewhat  dan- 
gerous practice,  on  deck  upon  the  cockpit  bench.  A 
stir  at  last  awoke  me,  to  see  ail  the  eastern  heaven  dyed 
with  faint  orange,  the  binnacle  lamp  already  dulled 
against  the  brightness  of  the  day,  and  the  steersman 
leaning  eagerly  across  the  wheel.  "There  it  is,  sir!" 
he  cried,  and  pointed  in  the  very  eyeball  of  the  dawn. 
For  a  while  I  could  see  nothing  but  the  bluish  ruins  of 
the  morning  bank,  which  lay  f;ir  along  the  horizon, 
like  melting  icebergs.  Then  the  sun  rose,  pierced  a 
gap  in  these  debris  of  vapours,  and  displayed  an  incon- 
siderable islet,  flat  as  a  plate  upon  the  sea,  and  spiked 
with  palms  of  disproportioned  altitude. 

So  far,  so  good.  Here  was  certainly  an  atoll ;  and 
we  were  certainly  got  among  the  archipelago.     But 

1S4 


THE   DANGEROUS   ARCHIPELAGO 

which?  And  where  ?  The  isle  was  too  small  for  either 
Takaroa:  in  all  our  neighbourhood,  indeed,  there  was 
none  so  inconsiderable,  save  only  Tikei;  and  Tikei,  one 
of  Roggewein's  so-called  Pernicious  Islands,  seemed 
beside  the  question.  At  that  rate,  instead  of  drifting  to 
the  west,  we  must  have  fetched  up  thirty  miles  to 
windward.  And  how  about  the  current  ?  It  had  been 
setting  us  down,  by  observation,  all  these  days :  by  the 
deflection  of  our  wake,  it  should  be  setting  us  down 
that  moment.  When  had  it  stopped  ?  When  had  it 
begun  again  ?  and  what  kind  of  torrent  was  that  which 
had  swept  us  eastward  in  the  interval  ?  To  these  ques- 
tions, so  typical  of  navigation  in  that  range  of  isles,  I 
have  no  answer.  Such  were  at  least  the  facts;  Tikei 
our  island  turned  out  to  be;  and  it  was  our  first  experi- 
ence of  the  dangerous  archipelago,  to  make  our  landfall 
thirty  miles  out. 

The  sight  of  Tikei,  thrown  direct  against  the  splen- 
dour of  the  morning,  robbed  of  all  its  colour,  and  de- 
formed with  disproportioned  trees  like  bristles  on  a 
broom,  had  scarce  prepared  us  to  be  much  in  love 
with  atolls.  Later  the  same  day  we  saw  under  more 
fit  conditions  the  island  of  Taiaro.  Lost  m  the  Sea  is 
possibly  the  meaning  of  the  name.  And  it  was  so  we 
saw  it;  lost  in  blue  sea  and  sky:  a  ring  of  white  beach, 
green  underwood,  and  tossing  palms,  gem-like  in  col- 
our; of  a  fairy,  of  a  heavenly  prettiness.  The  surf  ran 
all  around  it,  white  as  snow,  and  broke  at  one  point, 
far  to  seaward,  on  what  seems  an  uncharted  reef. 
There  was  no  smoke,  no  sign  of  man;  indeed,  the  isle 
is  not  inhabited,  only  visited  at  intervals.  And  yet  a 
trader  (Mr.  Narii  Salmon)  was  watching  from  the  shore 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

and  wondering  at  the  unexpected  ship.  I  have  spent 
since  then  long  months  upon  low  islands;  I  know  the 
tedium  of  their  undistinguished  days;  1  know  the  bur- 
den of  their  diet.  With  whatever  envy  we  may  have 
looked  from  the  deck  on  these  green  coverts,  it  was 
with  a  tenfold  greater  that  Mr.  Salmon  and  his  com- 
rades saw  us  steer,  in  our  trim  ship,  to  seaward. 

The  night  fell  lovely  in  the  extreme.  After  the  moon 
went  down,  the  heaven  was  a  thing  to  wonder  at  for 
stars.  And  as  I  lay  in  the  cockpit  and  looked  upon 
the  steersman  1  was  haunted  by  Emerson's  verses: 

And  the  lone  seaman  all  the  night 
Sails  astonished  among  stars. 

By  this  glittering  and  iinperfect  brightness,  about  four 
bells  in  the  first  watch  we  made  our  third  atoll,  Ra- 
raka.  The  low  line  of  the  isle  lay  straight  along  the 
sky;  so  that  I  was  at  first  reminded  of  a  towpath,  and 
we  seemed  to  be  mounting  some  engineered  and  navi- 
gable stream.  Presently  a  red  star  appeared,  about 
the  height  and  brightness  of  a  danger-signal,  and  with 
that  my  simile  was  changed;  we  seemed  rather  to  skirt 
the  embankment  of  a  railway,  and  the  eye  began  to 
look  instinctively  for  the  telegraph  posts,  and  the  ear 
to  expect  the  coming  of  a  train.  Here  and  there,  but 
rarely,  faint  tree-tops  broke  the  level.  And  the  sound 
of  the  surf  accompanied  us,  now  in  a  drowsy  mono- 
tone, now  with  a  menacing  swing. 

The  isle  lay  nearly  east  and  west,  barring  our  ad- 
vance on  Fakarava.  We  must,  therefore,  hug  the 
coast  until  we  gained  the  western  end,  where,  through 
a  passage  eight  miles  wide,  we  might  sail  southward 

150 


THE   DANGEROUS   ARCHIPELAGO 

between  Raraka  and  the  next  isle,  Kauehi.  We  had 
the  wind  free,  a  lightish  air;  but  clouds  of  an  inky 
blackness  were  beginning  to  rise,  and  at  times  it  light- 
ened—  without  thunder.  Something,  I  know  not 
what,  continually  set  us  up  upon  the  island.  We  lay 
more  and  more  to  the  nor'ard;  and  you  would  have 
thought  the  shore  copied  our  manoeuvre  and  outsailed 
us.  Once  and  twice  Raraka  headed  us  again  —  again, 
in  the  sea  fashion,  the  quite  innocent  steersman  was 
abused  —  and  again  the  Casc'O  kept  away.  Had  I  been 
called  on,  with  no  more  light  than  that  of  our  experi- 
ence, to  draw  the  configuration  of  that  island,  1  should 
have  shown  a  series  of  bow-window  promontories,  each 
overlapping  the  other  to  the  nor'ard,  and  the  trend  of  the 
land  from  the  south-east  to  the  north-west,  and  behold, 
on  the  chart  it  lay  near  east  and  west  in  a  straight  line. 

We  had  but  just  repeated  our  manoeuvre  and  kept 
away  —  for  not  more  than  five  minutes  the  railway 
embankment  had  been  lost  to  view  and  the  surf  to 
hearing  —  when  I  was  aware  of  land  again,  not  only  on 
the  weather  bow,  but  dead  ahead.  I  played  the  part 
of  the  judicious  landsman,  holding  my  peace  till  the 
last  moment;  and  presently  my  mariners  perceived  it 
for  themselves. 

"■  Land  ahead!  "  said  the  steersman. 

"  By  God,  it's  Kauehi!  "  cried  the  mate. 

And  so  it  was.  And  with  that  I  began  to  be  sorry 
for  cartographers.  We  were  scarce  doing  three  and  a 
half;  and  they  asked  me  to  believe  that  (in  five  minutes) 
we  had  dropped  an  island,  passed  eight  miles  of  open 
water,  and  run  almost  high  and  dry  upon  the  next. 
But  my  captain  was  more  sorry  for  himself  to  be  afloat 

'57 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

in  such  a  labyrinth ;  laid  the  disco  to,  with  the  log  line  up 
and  down,  and  sat  on  the  stern  rail  and  watched  it  till 
the  morning.    He  had  enough  of  night  in  the  Paumotus. 

By  daylight  on  the  9th  we  began  to  skirt  Kauehi, 
and  had  now  an  opportunity  to  see  near  at  hand  the 
geography  of  atolls.  Here  and  there,  where  it  was 
high,  the  farther  side  loomed  up;  here  and  there  the 
near  side  dipped  entirely  and  showed  a  broad  path  of 
water  into  the  lagoon;  here  and  there  both  sides  were 
equally  abased,  and  we  could  look  right  through  the 
discontinuous  ring  to  the  sea  horizon  on  the  south. 
Conceive,  on  a  vast  scale,  the  submerged  hoop  of  the 
duck-hunter,  trimmed  with  green  rushes  to  conceal 
his  head  —  water  within,  water  without  —  you  have 
the  image  of  the  perfect  atoll.  Conceive  one  that  has 
been  partly  plucked  of  its  rush  fringe;  you  have  the 
atoll  of  Kauehi.  And  for  either  shore  of  it  at  closer 
quarters,  conceive  the  line  of  some  old  Roman  high- 
way traversing  a  wet  morass,  and  here  sunk  out  of 
view  and  there  re-arising,  crowned  with  a  green  tuft  of 
thicket;  only  instead  of  the  stagnant  waters  of  a  marsh, 
the  live  ocean  now  boiled  against,  now  buried  the  frail 
barrier.  Last  night's  impression  in  the  dark  was  thus 
confirmed  by  day,  and  not  corrected.  We  sailed  in- 
deed by  a  mere  causeway  in  the  sea,  of  nature's  handi- 
work, yet  of  no  greater  magnitude  than  many  of  the 
works  of  man. 

The  isle  was  uninhabited;  it  was  all  green  brush  and 
white  sand,  set  in  transcendently  blue  water;  even  the 
coco-palms  were  rare,  though  some  of  these  completed 
the  bright  harmony  of  colour  by  hanging  out  a  fan  of 
golden  yellow.     For  long  there  was  no  sign  of  life  be- 


THE   DANGEROUS   ARcHlPELAGO 

yond  the  vegetable,  and  no  sound  but  the  continuous 
grumble  of  the  surf.  In  silence  and  desertion  these 
fair  shores  slipped  past,  and  were  submerged  and  rose 
again  with  clumps  of  thicket  from  the  sea.  And  then 
a  bird  or  two  appeared,  hovering  and  crying;  swiftly 
these  became  more  numerous,  and  presently,  looking 
ahead,  we  were  aware  of  a  vast  effervescence  of  winged 
life.  In  this  place  the  annular  isle  was  mostly  under 
water,  carrying  here  and  there  on  its  submerged  line  a 
wooded  islet.  Over  one  of  these  the  birds  hung  and 
flew  with  an  incredible  density  like  that  of  gnats 
or  hiving  bees;  the  mass  flashed  white  and  black,  and 
heaved  and  quivered,  and  the  screaming  of  the  creatures 
rose  over  the  voice  of  the  surf  in  a  shrill  clattering 
whirr.  As  you  descend  some  inland  valley  a  not  dis- 
similar sound  announces  the  nearness  of  a  mill  and 
pouring  river.  Some  stragglers,  as  I  said,  came  to 
meet  our  approach ;  a  few  still  hung  about  the  ship  as 
we  departed.  The  crying  died  away,  the  last  pair  of 
wings  was  left  behind,  and  once  more  the  low  shores 
of  Kauehi  streamed  past  our  eyes  in  silence  like  a  pic- 
ture. I  supposed  at  the  time  that  the  birds  lived,  like 
ants  or  citizens,  concentred  where  we  saw  them.  I 
have  been  told  since  (I  know  not  if  correctly)  that  the 
whole  isle,  or  much  of  it,  is  similarly  peopled;  and  that 
the  effervescence  at  a  single  spot  would  be  the  mark  of 
a  boat's  crew  of  egg-hunters  from  one  of  the  neighbour- 
ing inhabited  atolls.  So  that  here  at  Kauehi,  as  the  day 
before  at  Taiaro,  the  Casco  sailed  by  under  the  fire  of 
unsuspected  eyes.  And  one  thing  is  surely  true,  that 
even  on  these  ribbons  of  land  an  army  might  lie  hid 
and  no  passing  mariner  divine  its  presence. 

•  59 


CHAPTER    II 

fakarava:  an  atoll  at  hand 

By  a  little  before  noon  we  were  running  down  the 
coast  of  our  destination,  Fakarava;  the  air  very  light, 
the  sea  near  smooth ;  though  still  we  were  accompanied 
by  a  continuous  murmur  from  the  beach,  like  the  sound 
of  a  distant  train.  The  isle  is  of  a  huge  longitude,  the 
enclosed  lagoon  thirty  miles  by  ten  or  twelve,  and  the 
coral  tow-path,  which  they  call  the  land,  some  eighty 
or  ninety  miles  by  (possibly)  one  furlong.  That  part 
by  which  we  sailed  was  all  raised;  the  underwood  ex- 
cellently green,  the  topping  wood  of  coco-palms  con- 
tinuous—  a  mark,  if  I  had  known  it,  of  man's  interven- 
tion. For  once  more,  and  once  more  unconsciously, 
we  were  within  hail  of  fellow-creatures,  and  that  va- 
cant beach  was  but  a  pistol-shot  from  the  capital  city 
of  the  archipelago.  But  the  life  of  an  atoll,  unless  it  be 
enclosed,  passes  wholly  on  the  shores  of  the  lagoon;  it 
is  there  the  villages  are  seated,  there  the  canoes  ply  and 
are  drawn  up;  and  the  beach  of  the  ocean  is  a  place 
accursed  and  deserted,  the  fit  scene  only  for  wizardry 
and  shipwreck,  and  in  the  native  belief  a  haunting 
ground  of  murderous  spectres. 

By  and  by  we  might  perceive  a  breach  in  the  low 
barrier;  the  woods  ceased;  a  glittering  point  ran  into 

1 60 


FAKARAVA:    AN    ATOLL   AT    HAND 

the  sea,  tipped  with  an  emerald  shoal,  the  mark  of  en- 
trance. As  we  drew  near  we  met  a  little  run  of  sea  — 
the  private  sea  of  the  lagoon  having  there  its  origin  and 
end,  and  here,  in  the  jaws  of  the  gateway,  trying  vain 
conclusions  with  the  more  majestic  heave  of  the  Pacific. 
The  dnco  scarce  avowed  a  shock;  but  there  are  times 
and  circumstances  when  these  harbour  mouths  of  in- 
land basins  vomit  floods,  deflecting,  burying,  and  dis- 
masting ships.  For,  conceive  a  lagoon  perfectly  sealed 
but  in  the  one  point,  and  that  of  merely  navigable 
width;  conceive  the  tide  and  wind  to  have  heaped  for 
hours  together  in  that  coral  fold  a  superfluity  of  waters, 
and  the  tide  to  change  and  the  wind  fall  —  the  open 
sluice  of  some  great  reservoirs  at  home  will  give  an 
image  of  the  unstemmable  effluxion. 

We  were  scarce  well  headed  for  the  pass  before  all 
heads  were  craned  over  the  rail.  For  the  water,  shoal- 
ing under  our  board,  became  changed  in  a  moment  to 
surprising  hues  of  blue  and  grey;  and  in  its  transpa- 
rency the  coral  branched  and  blossomed,  and  the  fish 
of  the  inland  sea  cruised  visibly  below  us,  stained  and 
striped,  and  even  beaked  like  parrots.  I  have  paid  in 
my  time  to  view  many  curiosities ;  never  one  so  curious 
as  that  first  sight  over  the  ship's  rail  in  the  lagoon  of 
Fakarava.  But  let  not  the  reader  be  deceived  with  hope. 
I  have  since  entered,  I  suppose,  some  dozen  atolls  in 
different  parts  of  the  Pacific,  and  the  experience  has 
never  been  repeated.  That  exquisite  hue  and  transpa- 
rency of  submarine  day,  and  these  shoals  of  rainbow 
fish,  have  not  enraptured  me  again. 

Before  we  could  raise  our  eyes  from  that  engaging 
spectacle  the  schooner  had  slipped  betwixt  the  pier- 

i6i 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

heads  of  the  reef,  and  was  already  quite  committed  to 
the  sea  within.  The  containing  shores  are  so  little 
erected,  and  the  lagoon  itself  is  so  great,  that,  for  the 
more  part,  it  seemed  to  extend  without  a  check  to  the 
horizon.  Here  and  there,  indeed,  where  the  reef  car- 
ried an  inlet,  like  a  signet-ring  upon  a  finger,  there 
would  be  a  pencilling  of  palms;  here  and  there,  the 
green  wall  of  wood  ran  solid  for  a  length  of  miles;  and 
on  the  port  hand,  under  the  highest  grove  of  trees,  a 
few  houses  sparkled  white — Rotoava,  the  metropolitan 
settlement  of  the  Paumotus.  Hither  we  beat  in  three 
tacks,  and  came  to  an  anchor  close  in  shore,  in  the  first 
smooth  water  since  we  had  left  San  Francisco,  five 
fathoms  deep,  where  a  man  might  look  overboard  all 
day  at  the  vanishing  cable,  the  coral  patches,  and  the 
many-coloured  fish. 

Fakarava  was  chosen  to  be  the  seat  of  Government 
from  nautical  considerations  only.  It  is  eccentrically 
situate;  the  productions,  even  for  a  low  island,  poor; 
the  population  neither  many  nor  —  for  Low  Islanders  — 
industrious.  But  the  lagoon  has  two  good  passages, 
one  to  leeward,  one  to  windward,  so  that  in  all  states 
of  the  wind  it  can  be  left  and  entered,  and  this  advan- 
tage, for  a  government  of  scattered  islands,  was  deci- 
sive. A  pier  of  coral,  landing-stairs,  a  harbour  light  upon 
a  staff  and  pillar,  and  two  spacious  Government  bunga- 
lows in  a  handsome  fence,  give  to  the  northern  end  of 
Rotoava  a  great  air  of  consequence.  This  is  confirmed 
on  the  one  hand  by  an  empty  prison,  on  the  other  by  a 
gendarmerie  pasted  over  with  hand-bills  in  Tahitian, 
land-law  notices  from  Papeete,  and  republican  senti- 
ments from   Paris,   signed  (a  little  after  date)  "Jules 

162 


FAKARAVA:    AN    ATOLL   AT    HAND 

Grevy,  Perihidente. ' '  Quite  at  the  far  end  a  belfried 
Catholic  chapel  concludes  the  town;  and  between,  on 
a  smooth  floor  of  white  coral  sand  and  under  the  breezy 
canopy  of  cocoa-palms,  the  houses  of  the  natives  stand 
irregularly  scattered,  now  close  on  the  lagoon  for  the 
sake  of  the  breeze,  now  back  under  the  palms  for  love 
of  shadow. 

Not  a  soul  was  to  be  seen.  But  for  the  thunder  of 
the  surf  on  the  far  side,  it  seemed  you  might  have  heard 
a  pin  drop  anywhere  about  that  capital  city.  There  was 
something  thrilling  in  the  unexpected  silence,  some- 
thing yet  more  so  in  the  unexpected  sound.  Here  be- 
fore us  a  sea  reached  to  the  horizon,  rippling  like  an 
inland  mere;  and  behold!  close  at  our  back  another  sea 
assaulted  with  assiduous  fury  the  reverse  of  the  position. 
At  night  the  lantern  was  run  up  and  lit  a  vacant  pier. 
In  one  house  lights  were  seen  and  voices  heard,  where 
the  population  (I  was  told)  sat  playing  cards.  A  little 
beyond,  from  deep  in  the  darkness  of  the  palm  grove, 
we  saw  the  glow  and  smelt  the  aromatic  odour  of  a 
coal  of  cocoa-nut  husk,  a  relic  of  the  evening  kitchen. 
Crickets  sang:  some  shrill  thing  whisted  in  a  tuft  of 
weeds;  and  the  mosquito  hummed  and  stung.  There 
was  no  other  trace  that  night  of  man,  bird,  or  insect  in 
the  isle.  The  moon,  now  three  days  old,  and  as  yet  but 
a  silver  crescent  on  a  still  visible  sphere,  shone  through 
the  palm  canopy  with  vigorous  and  scatteied  lights. 
The  alleys  where  we  walked  were  smoothed  and 
weeded  like  a  boulevard;  here  and  there  were  plants 
set  out;  here  and  there  dusky  cottages  clustered  in  the 
shadow,  some  with  verandahs.  A  public  garden  by 
night,  a  rich  and  fashionable  watering-place  in  a  by- 

163 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

season,  offer  sights  and  vistas  not  dissimilar.  And  still, 
on  the  one  side,  stretched  the  lapping  mere,  and  from 
the  other  the  deep  sea  still  growled  in  the  night.  But 
it  was  most  of  all  on  board,  in  the  dead  hours,  when  I 
had  been  better  sleeping,  that  the  spell  of  Fakarava 
seized  and  held  me.  The  moon  was  down.  The  har- 
bour lantern  and  two  of  the  greater  planets  drew  vari- 
colored wakes  on  the  lagoon.  From  shore  the  cheerful 
watch-cry  of  cocks  rang  out  at  intervals  above  the 
organ-point  of  surf  And  the  thought  of  this  depopu- 
lated capital,  this  protracted  thread  of  annular  island 
with  its  crest  of  coco-palms  and  fringe  of  breakers,  and 
that  tranquil  inland  sea  that  stretched  before  me  till  it 
touched  the  stars,  ran  in  my  head  for  hours  with  delight. 
So  long  as  1  stayed  upon  that  isle  these  thoughts 
were  constant.  I  lay  down  to  sleep,  and  woke  again 
with  an  unblunted  sense  of  my  surroundings.  1  was 
never  weary  of  calling  up  the  image  of  that  narrow 
causeway,  on  which  I  had  my  dwelling,  lying  coiled 
like  a  serpent,  tail  to  mouth,  in  the  outrageous  ocean, 
and  I  was  never  weary  of  passing  —  a  mere  quarter- 
deck parade  —  from  the  one  side  to  the  other,  from  the 
shady,  habitable  shores  of  the  lagoon  to  the  blinding 
desert  and  uproarious  breakers  of  the  opposite  beach. 
The  sense  of  insecurity  in  such  a  thread  of  residence  is 
more  than  fanciful.  Hurricanes  and  tidal-waves  over- 
leap these  humble  obstacles;  Oceanus  remembers  his 
strength,  and,  where  houses  stood  and  palms  flourished, 
shakes  his  white  beard  again  over  the  barren  coral. 
Fakarava  itself  has  suffered;  the  trees  immediately  be- 
yond my  house  were  all  of  recent  replantation ;  and 
Anaa  is  only  now  recovered  from  a  heavier  stroke.     I 

164 


FAKARAVA:    AN    ATOLL   AT    HAND 

knew  one  who  wns  then  dwelling  in  the  isle.  He  told 
me  that  he  and  two  ship  captains  walked  to  the  sea 
beach.  There  for  a  while  they  viewed  the  on-coming 
breakers,  till  one  of  the  captains  clapped  suddenly  his 
hand  before  his  eyes  and  cried  aloud  that  he  could  en- 
dure no  longer  to  behold  them.  This  was  in  the  after- 
noon; in  the  dark  hours  of  the  night  the  sea  burst  upon 
the  island  like  a  flood;  the  settlement  was  razed,  all  but 
the  church  and  presbytery;  and,  when  day  returned, 
the  survivors  saw  themselves  clinging  in  an  abattis  of 
uprooted  coco-palms  and  ruined  houses. 

Danger  is  but  a  small  consideration.  But  men  are 
more  nicely  sensible  of  a  discomfort;  and  the  atoll  is  a 
discomfortable  home.  There  are  some,  and  these  prob- 
ably ancient,  where  a  deep  soil  has  formed  and  the 
most  valuable  fruit-trees  prosper.  I  have  walked  in 
one,  with  equal  admiration  and  surprise,  through  a  for- 
est of  huge  breadfruits,  eating  bananas  and  stumbling 
among  taro  as  I  went.  This  was  in  the  atoll  of  Namo- 
rik  in  the  Marshall  group,  and  stands  alone  in  my  ex- 
perience. To  give  the  opposite  extreme,  which  is  yet 
for  more  near  the  average,  I  will  describe  the  soil  and 
productions  of  Fakarava.  The  surface  of  that  narrow 
strip  is  for  the  more  part  of  broken  coral  limestone,  like 
volcanic  clinkers,  and  excruciating  to  the  naked  foot;  in 
some  atolls,  I  believe,  not  in  Fakarava,  it  gives  a  fine 
metallic  ring  when  struck.  Here  and  there  you  come 
upon  a  bank  of  sand,  exceeding  fine  and  white,  and 
these  parts  are  the  least  productive.  The  plants  (such 
as  they  are)  spring  from  and  love  the  broken  coral, 
whence  they  grow  with  that  wonderful  verdancy  that 
makes  the  beauty  of  the  atoll  from  the  sea.     The  coco- 

165 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

palm  in  particular  luxuriates  in  that  stern  solum,  striking 
down  his  roots  to  the  brackish,  percolated  water,  and 
bearing  his  green  head  in  the  wind  with  every  evidence 
of  health  and  pleasure.  And  yet  even  the  coco-palm 
must  be  helped  in  infancy  with  some  extraneous  nutri- 
ment, and  through  much  of  the  low  archipelago  there 
is  planted  with  each  nut  a  piece  of  ship's  biscuit  and  a 
rusty  nail.  The  pandanus  comes  next  in  importance, 
being  also  a  food  tree;  and  he,  too,  does  bravely.  A 
green  bush  called  miki  runs  everywhere;  occasionally 
a  purao  is  seen;  and  there  are  several  useless  weeds. 
According  to  M.  Cuzent,  the  whole  number  of  plants 
on  an  atoll  such  as  Fakarava  will  scarce  exceed,  even 
if  it  reaches  to,  one  score.  Not  a  blade  of  grass  appears ; 
not  a  grain  of  humus,  save  when  a  sack  or  two  has 
been  imported  to  make  the  semblance  of  a  garden;  such 
gardens  as  bloom  in  cities  on  the  window-sill.  Insect 
life  is  sometimes  dense;  a  cloud  of  mosquitoes,  and,  what 
is  far  worse,  a  plague  of  flies  blackening  our  food,  have 
sometimes  driven  us  from  a  meal  on  Apemama;  and 
even  in  Fakarava  the  mosquitoes  were  a  pest.  The 
land  crab  may  be  seen  scuttling  to  his  hole,  and  at  night 
the  rats  besiege  the  houses  and  the  artificial  gardens. 
The  crab  is  good  eating;  possibly  so  is  the  rat;  I  have 
not  tried.  Pandanus  fruit  is  made,  in  the  Gilberts,  into 
an  agreeable  sweetmeat,  such  as  a  man  may  trifle  with 
at  the  end  of  a  long  dinner;  for  a  substantial  meal  I 
have  no  use  for  it.  The  rest  of  the  food-supply,  in  a 
destitute  atoll  such  as  Fakarava,  can  be  summed  up  in 
the  favorite  jest  of  the  archipelago  —  cocoa-nut  beef- 
steak. Cocoa-nut  green,  cocoa-nut  ripe,  cocoa-nut  ger- 
minated;   cocoa-nut   to  eat  and   cocoa-nut  to  drink; 


FAKARAVA:    AN    ATOLL   AT   HAND 

cocoa-nut  raw  and  cooked,  cocoa-nut  hot  and  cold  — 
such  is  the  bill  of  fare.  And  some  of  the  entrees  are  no 
doubt  delicious.  The  germinated  nut,  cooked  in  the 
shell  and  eaten  with  a  spoon,  forms  a  good  pudding; 
cocoa-nut  milk, —  the  expressed  juice  of  a  ripe  nut,  not 
the  water  of  a  green  one  —  goes  well  in  coffee,  and  is  a 
valuable  adjunct  in  cookery  through  the  South  Seas; 
and  cocoa-nut  salad,  if  you  be  a  millionaire,  and  can  af- 
ford to  eat  the  value  of  a  field  of  corn  for  your  dessert, 
is  a  dish  to  be  remembered  with  affection.  But  when 
all  is  done  there  is  a  sameness,  and  the  Israelites  of  the 
low  islands  murmur  at  their  manna. 

The  reader  may  think  1  have  forgot  the  sea.  The 
two  beaches  do  certainly  abound  in  life,  and  they  are 
strangely  different.  In  the  lagoon  the  water  shallows 
slowly  on  a  bottom  of  fine  slimy  sand,  dotted  with 
clumps  of  growing  coral.  Then  comes  a  strip  of  tidal 
beach  on  which  the  ripples  lap.  In  the  coral  clumps 
the  great  holy- water  clam  ( Tridacna)  grows  plentifully ; 
a  little  deeper  lie  the  beds  of  the  pearl-oyster  and  sail 
the  resplendent  fish  that  charmed  us  at  our  entrance; 
and  these  are  all  more  or  less  vigorously  coloured.  But 
the  other  shells  are  white  like  lime,  or  faintly  tinted 
with  a  little  pink,  the  palest  possible  display;  many  of 
them  dead  besides,  and  badly  rolled.  On  the  ocean 
side,  on  the  mounds  of  the  steep  beach,  over  all  the 
width  of  the  reef  right  out  to  where  the  surf  is  burst- 
ing, in  every  cranny,  under  every  scattered  fragment 
of  the  coral,  an  incredible  plenty  of  marine  life  displays 
the  most  wonderful  variety  and  brilliancy  of  hues.  The 
reef  itself  has  no  passage  of  colour  but  is  imitated  by 
some  shell.     Purple  and  red  and  white,  and  green  and 

167 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

yellow,  pied  and  striped  and  clouded,  the  living  shells 
wear  in  every  combination  the  livery  of  the  dead  reef 
—  if  the  reef  be  dead  —  so  that  the  eye  is  continually 
baffled  and  the  collector  continually  deceived.  I  have 
taken  shells  for  stones  and  stones  for  shells,  the  one  as 
often  as  the  other.  A  prevailing  character  of  the  coral 
is  to  be  dotted  with  small  spots  of  red,  and  it  is  won- 
derful how  many  varieties  of  shell  have  adopted  the 
same  fashion  and  donned  the  disguise  of  the  red  spot. 
A  shell  1  had  found  in  plenty  in  the  Marquesas  1  found 
here  also  unchanged  in  all  things  else,  but  there  were 
the  red  spots.  A  lively  little  crab  wore  the  same  mark- 
ing. The  case  of  the  hermit  or  soldier  crab  was  more 
conclusive,  being  the  result  of  conscious  choice.  This 
nasty  little  wrecker,  scavenger,  and  squatter  has  learned 
the  value  of  a  spotted  house;  so  it  be  of  the  right  col- 
our he  will  choose  the  smallest  shard,  tuck  himself  in 
a  mere  corner  of  a  broken  whorl,  and  go  about  the 
world  half  naked;  but  I  never  found  him  in  this  imper- 
fect armour  unless  it  was  marked  with  the  red  spot. 

Some  two  hundred  yards  distant  is  the  beach  of  the 
lagoon.  Collect  the  shells  from  each,  set  them  side  by 
side,  and  you  would  suppose  they  came  from  different 
hemispheres;  the  one  so  pale,  the  other  so  brilliant; 
the  one  prevalently  white,  the  other  of  a  score  of  hues, 
and  infected  with  the  scarlet  spot  like  a  disease.  This 
seems  the  more  strange,  since  the  hermit  crabs  pass 
and  repass  the  island,  and  I  have  met  them  by  the  Resi- 
dency well,  which  is  about  central,  journeying  either 
way.  Without  doubt  many  of  the  shells  in  the  lagoon 
are  dead.  But  why  are  they  dead  ?  Without  doubt  the 
living  shells  have  a  very  different  background  set  for 

1 68 


FAKARAVA:    AN    ATOLL  AT   HAND 

imitation.     But  why  are  these  so  different  ?    We  are 
only  on  the  threshold  of  the  mysteries. 

Either  beach,  I  have  said,  abounds  with  life.  On  the 
sea-side  and  in  certain  atolls  this  profusion  of  vitality  is 
even  shocking:  the  rock  under  foot  is  mined  with  it. 
I  have  broken  off — notably  in  Funafuti  and  Arorai^ — 
great  lumps  of  ancient  weathered  rock  that  rang  under 
my  blows  like  iron,  and  the  fracture  has  been  full  of 
pendent  worms  as  long  as  my  hand,  as  thick  as  a 
child's  finger,  of  a  slightly  pinkish  white,  and  set  as 
close  as  three  or  even  four  to  the  square  inch.  Even 
in  the  lagoon,  where  certain  shell-fish  seem  to  sicken, 
others  (it  is  notorious)  prosper  exceedingly  and  make 
the  riches  of  these  islands.  Fish,  too,  abound;  the 
lagoon  is  a  closed  fish-pond,  such  as  might  rejoice  the 
fancy  of  an  abbot;  sharks  swarm  there,  and  chiefly 
round  the  passages,  to  feast  upon  this  plenty,  and  you 
would  suppose  that  man  had  only  to  prepare  his  angle. 
Alas!  it  is  not  so.  Of  those  painted  fish  that  came  in 
hordes  about  the  entering  disco,  some  bore  poisonous 
spines,  and  others  were  poisonous  if  eaten.  The 
stranger  must  refrain,  or  take  his  chance  of  painful 
and  dangerous  sickness.  The  native,  on  his  own  isle, 
is  a  safe  guide;  transplant  him  to  the  next,  and  he  is 
helpless  as  yourself  For  it  is  a  question  both  of  time 
and  place.  A  fish  caught  in  a  lagoon  may  be  deadly; 
the  same  fish  caught  the  same  day  at  sea,  and  only  a 
few  hundred  yards  without  the  passage,  will  be  whole- 
some eating:  in  a  neighbouring  isle  perhaps  the  case 
will  be  reversed ;  and  perhaps  a  fortnight  later  you  shall 
be  able  to  eat  of  them  indifferently  from  within  and 

1  Arorai  is  in  the  Gilberts,  Funafuti  in  the  Ellice  Islands.  —  Ed. 
169 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

from  without.  According  to  the  natives,  these  bewil- 
dering vicissitudes  are  ruled  by  the  movement  of  the 
heavenly  bodies.  The  beautiful  planet  Venus  plays  a 
great  part  in  all  island  tales  and  customs;  and  among 
other  functions,  some  of  them  more  awful,  she  regulates 
the  season  of  good  fish.  With  Venus  in  one  phase,  as 
we  had  her,  certain  fish  were  poisonous  in  the  lagoon : 
with  Venus  in  another,  the  same  fish  was  harmless  and 
a  valued  article  of  diet.  White  men  explain  these 
changes  by  the  phases  of  the  coral. 

It  adds  a  last  touch  of  horror  to  the  thought  of  this 
precarious  annular  gangway  in  the  sea,  that  even  what 
there  is  of  it  is  not  of  honest  rock,  but  organic,  part 
alive,  part  putrescent;  even  the  clean  sea  and  the  bright 
fish  about  it  poisoned,  the  most  stubborn  boulder  bur- 
rowed in  by  worms,  the  lightest  dust  venomous  as  an 
apothecary's  drugs. 


•70 


CHAPTER   III 

A   HOUSE   TO   LET   IN    A   LOW    ISLAND 

Never  populous,  it  was  yet  by  a  chapter  of  accidents 
that  I  found  the  island  so  deserted  that  no  sound  of 
human  life  diversified  the  hours;  that  we  walked  in 
that  trim  public  garden  of  a  town,  among  closed  houses, 
without  even  a  lodging-bill  in  a  window  to  prove  some 
tenancy  in  the  back  quarters;  and,  when  we  visited  the 
Government  bungalow,  that  Mr.  Donat,  acting  Vice- 
Resident,  greeted  us  alone,  and  entertained  us  with 
cocoa-nut  punches  in  the  Sessions  Hall  and  seat  of 
judgment  of  that  widespread  archipelago,  our  glasses 
standing  arrayed  with  summonses  and  census  returns. 
The  unpopularity  of  a  late  Vice-Resident  had  begun  the 
movement  of  exodus,  his  native  employes  resigning 
court  appointments  and  retiring  each  to  his  own  coco- 
patch  in  the  remoter  districts  of  the  isle.  Upon  the 
back  of  that,  the  Governor  in  Papeete  issued  a  decree: 
All  land  in  the  Paumotus  must  be  defined  and  registered 
by  a  certain  date.  Now,  the  folk  of  the  archipelago  are 
half  nomadic;  a  man  can  scarce  be  said  to  belong  to  a 
particular  atoll;  he  belongs  to  several,  perhaps  holds  a 
stake  and  counts  cousinship  in  half  a  score;  and  the  in- 
habitants of  Rotoava  in  particular,  man,  woman,  and 
child,  and  from  the  gendarme  to  the  Mormon  prophet 

171 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

and  the  schoolmaster,  owned — I  was  going  to  say 
land  —  owned  at  least  coral  blocks  and  growing  coco- 
palms  in  some  adjacent  isle.  Thither  —  from  the  gen- 
darme to  the  babe  in  arms,  the  pastor  followed  by  his 
flock,  the  schoolmaster  carrying  along  with  him  his 
scholars,  and  the  scholars  with  their  books  and  slates  — 
they  had  taken  ship  some  two  days  previous  to  our 
arrival,  and  were  all  now  engaged  disputing  bounda- 
ries. Fancy  overhears  the  shrillness  of  their  disputa- 
tion mingle  with  the  surf  and  scatter  sea-fowl.  It  was 
admirable  to  observe  the  completeness  of  their  flight, 
like  that  of  hibernating  birds;  nothing  left  but  empty 
houses,  like  old  nests  to  be  reoccupied  in  spring;  and 
even  the  harmless  necessary  dominie  borne  with  them 
in  their  transmigration.  Fifty  odd  set  out,  and  only 
seven,  1  was  informed,  remained.  But  when  I  made  a 
feast  on  board  the  Casco,  more  than  seven,  and  nearer 
seven  times  seven,  appeared  to  be  my  guests.  Whence 
they  appeared,  how  they  were  summoned,  whither  they 
vanished  when  the  feast  was  eaten,  I  have  no  guess.  In 
view  of  Low  Island  tales,  and  that  awful  frequentation 
which  makes  men  avoid  the  seaward  beaches  of  an 
atoll,  some  two  score  of  those  that  ate  with  us  may 
have  returned,  for  the  occasion,  from  the  kingdom  of 
the  dead. 

It  was  this  solitude  that  put  it  in  our  minds  to  hire  a 
house,  and  become,  for  the  time  being,  indwellers  of 
the  isle  —  a  practice  1  have  ever  since,  when  it  was  pos- 
sible, adhered  to.  Mr.  Donat  placed  us,  with  that  in- 
tent, under  the  convoy  of  one  Taniera  Mahinui,  who 
combined  the  incongruous  characters  of  catechist  and 
convict.     The  reader  may  smile,  but  I  affirm  he  was 

172 


A   HOUSE  TO    LET    IN    A    LOW    ISLAND 

well  qualified  for  either  part.  For  that  of  convict,  first 
of  all,  by  a  good  substantial  felony,  such  as  in  all  lands 
casts  the  perpetrator  in  chains  and  dungeons.  Taniera 
was  a  man  of  birth  —  the  chief  a  while  ago,  as  he  loved 
to  tell,  of  a  district  in  Anaa  of  800  souls.  In  an  evil 
hour  it  occurred  to  the  authorities  in  Papeete  to  charge 
the  chiefs  with  the  collection  of  the  taxes.  It  is  a  ques- 
tion if  much  were  collected ;  it  is  certain  that  nothing 
was  handed  on;  and  Taniera,  who  had  distinguished 
himself  by  a  visit  to  Papeete  and  some  high  living  in 
restaurants,  was  chosen  for  the  scapegoat.  The  reader 
must  understand  that  not  Taniera  but  the  authorities  in 
Papeete  were  first  in  fault.  The  charge  imposed  was 
disproportioned.  I  have  not  yet  heard  of  any  Polyne- 
sian capable  of  such  a  burden;  honest  and  upright  Ha- 
waiians  —  one  in  particular,  who  was  admired  even  by 
the  whites  as  an  inflexible  magistrate  —  have  stumbled 
in  the  narrow  path  of  the  trustee.  And  Taniera,  when 
the  pinch  came,  scorned  to  denounce  accomplices; 
others  had  shared  the  spoil,  he  bore  the  penalty  alone. 
He  was  condemned  in  five  years.  The  period,  when  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  his  friendship,  was  not  yet  expired; 
he  still  drew  prison  rations,  the  sole  and  not  unwelcome 
reminder  of  his  chains,  and,  I  believed,  looked  forward 
to  the  date  of  his  enfranchisement  with  mere  alarm. 
For  he  had  no  sense  of  shame  in  the  position;  com- 
plained of  nothing  but  the  defective  table  of  his  place 
of  exile;  regretted  nothing  but  the  fowls  and  eggs  and 
fish  of  his  own  more  favoured  island.  And  as  for  his 
parishioners,  they  did  not  think  one  hair  the  less  of  him. 
A  schoolboy,  mulcted  in  ten  thousand  lines  of  Greek 
and  dwelling  sequestered  in   the   dormitories,   enjoys 

'73 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

unabated  consideration  from  his  fellows.  So  with  Ta- 
niera:  a  marked  man,  not  a  dishonoured;  having  fallen 
under  the  lash  of  the  unthinkable  gods;  a  Job,  perhaps, 
or  say  a  Taniera  in  the  den  of  lions.  Songs  are  likely 
made  and  sung  about  this  saintly  Robin  Hood.  On  the 
other  hand,  he  was  even  highly  qualified  for  his  office 
in  the  Church;  being  by  nature  a  grave,  considerate, 
and  kindly  man;  his  face  rugged  and  serious,  his  smile 
bright;  the  master  of  several  trades,  a  builder  both  of 
boats  and  houses;  endowed  with  a  fine  pulpit  voice; 
endowed  besides  with  such  a  gift  of  eloquence  that  at 
the  grave  of  the  late  chief  of  Fakarava  he  set  all  the  as- 
sistants weeping.  I  never  met  a  man  of  a  mind  more 
ecclesiastical;  he  loved  to  dispute  and  to  inform  himself 
of  doctrine  and  the  history  of  sects ;  and  when  I  showed 
him  the  cuts  in  a  volume  of  Chambers's  Encyclopaedia  — 
except  for  one  of  an  ape  —  reserved  his  whole  enthu- 
siasm for  cardinals'  hats,  censers,  candlesticks,  and  ca- 
thedrals. Methought  when  he  looked  upon  the  cardi- 
nal's hat  a  voice  said  low  in  his  ear:  "Your  foot  is  on 
the  ladder." 

Under  the  guidance  of  Taniera  we  were  soon  installed 
in  what  I  believe  to  have  been  the  best  appointed  pri- 
vate house  in  Fakarava.  It  stood  just  beyond  the 
church  in  an  oblong  patch  of  cultivation.  More  than 
three  hundred  sacks  of  soil  were  imported  from  Tahiti 
for  the  Residency  garden ;  and  this  must  shortly  be  re- 
newed, for  the  earth  blows  away,  sinks  in  crevices  of 
the  coral,  and  is  sought  for  at  last  in  vain.  1  know 
not  how  much  earth  had  gone  to  the  garden  of  my 
villa;  some  at  least,  for  an  alley  of  prosperous  bananas 
ran  to  the  gate,  and  over  the  rest  of  the  enclosure,  which 

'74 


A    HOUSE  TO    LET   IN    A    LOW    ISLAND 

was  covered  with  the  usual  clinker-like  fragments  of 
smashed  coral,  not  only  coco-palms  and  mikis  but  also 
fig-trees  flourished,  all  of  a  delicious  greenness.  Of 
course  there  was  no  blade  of  grass.  In  front  a  picket 
fence  divided  us  from  the  white  road,  the  palm-fringed 
margin  of  the  lagoon,  and  the  lagoon  itself,  reflecting 
clouds  by  day  and  stars  by  night.  At  the  back,  a  bul- 
wark of  uncemented  coral  enclosed  us  from  the  narrow 
belt  of  bush  and  the  nigh  ocean  beach  where  the  seas 
thundered,  the  roar  and  wash  of  them  still  humming  in 
the  chambers  of  the  house. 

This  itself  was  of  one  story,  verandahed  front  and 
back.  It  contained  three  rooms,  three  sewing-machines, 
three  sea-chests,  chairs,  tables,  a  pair  of  beds,  a  cradle,  a 
double-barrelled  gun,  a  pair  of  enlarged  coloured  photo- 
graphs, a  pair  of  coloured  prints  after  Wilkie  and  Mulready, 
and  a  French  lithograph  with  the  legend :  "  Le  brigade  du 
General  Lep asset  bnVant  son  drapeaii  devant  Met^. 
Uuder  the  stilts  of  the  house  a  stove  was  rusting,  till  we 
drew  it  forth  and  put  it  in  commission.  Not  far  off  was 
the  burrow  in  the  coral  whence  we  supplied  ourselves 
with  brackish  water.  There  was  live  stock,  besides,  on 
the  estate —  cocks  and  hens  and  a  brace  of  ill-regulated 
cats,  whom  Taniera  came  every  morning  with  the  sun 
to  feed  on  grated  cocoa-nut.  His  voice  was  our  regular 
reveille,  ringing  pleasantly  about  the  garden:  "  Pooty  — 
pooty  —  poo  —  poo  —  poo  !  " 

Far  as  we  were  from  the  public  offices,  the  nearness 
of  the  chapel  made  our  situation  what  is  called  eligible 
in  advertisements,  and  gave  us  a  side  look  on  some  native 
life.  Every  morning,  as  soon  as  he  had  fed  the  fowls, 
Taniera  set  the  bell  agoing  in  the  small  belfry;  and  the 

'75 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

faithful,  who  were  not  very  numerous,  gathered  to 
prayers.  I  was  once  present:  it  was  the  Lord's  day, 
and  seven  females  and  eight  males  composed  the  con- 
gregation. A  woman  played  precentor,  starting  with 
a  longish  note;  the  catechist  joined  in  upon  the  second 
bar;  and  then  the  faithful  in  a  body.  Some  had  printed 
hymn-books  which  they  followed ;  some  of  the  rest  filled 
up  with  "eh  —  eh  —  eh,"  the  Paumotuan  tol-de-rol. 
After  the  hymn,  we  had  an  antiphonal  prayer  or  two; 
and  then  Taniera  rose  from  the  front  bench,  where  he 
had  been  sitting  in  his  catechist's  robes,  passed  within 
the  altar-rails,  opened  his  Tahitian  Bible,  and  began  to 
preach  from  notes.  I  understood  one  word  —  the  name 
of  God;  but  the  preacher  managed  his  voice  with  taste, 
used  rare  and  expressive  gestures,  and  made  a  strong 
impression  of  sincerity.  The  plain  service,  the  vernacu- 
lar Bible,  the  hymn-tunes  mostly  on  an  English  pat- 
tern—  "  God  save  the  Queen,"  I  was  informed,  a  special 
favourite, —  all,  save  some  paper  flowers  upon  the  altar, 
seemed  not  merely  but  austerely  Protestant.  It  is  thus 
the  Catholics  have  met  their  low  island  proselytes  half- 
way. 

Taniera  had  the  keys  of  our  house;  it  was  with  him 
I  made  my  bargain,  if  that  could  be  called  a  bargain  in 
which  all  was  remitted  to  my  generosity;  it  was  he 
who  fed  the  cats  and  poultry,  he  who  came  to  call  and 
pick  a  meal  with  us  like  an  acknowledged  friend;  and 
we  long  fondly  supposed  he  was  our  landlord.  This 
belief  was  not  to  bear  the  test  of  experience ;  and,  as  my 
chapter  has  to  relate,  no  certainty  succeeded  it. 

We  passed  some  days  of  airless  quiet  and  great  heat; 
shell-gatherers  were  warned  from   the    ocean  beach, 

176 


A    HOUSE  TO   LET   IN   A    LOW    ISLAND 

where  sunstroke  waited  them  from  ten  till  four;  the 
highest  palm  hung  motionless,  there  was  no  voice 
audible  but  that  of  the  sea  on  the  far  side.  At  last,  about 
four  of  a  certain  afternoon,  long  cats-paws  flawed  the  face 
of  the  lagoon ;  and  presently  in  the  tree-tops  there  awoke 
the  grateful  bustle  of  the  trades,  and  all  the  houses  and 
alle3's  of  the  island  were  fanned  out.  To  more  than  one 
enchanted  ship,  that  had  lain  long  becalmed  in  view  of 
the  green  shore,  the  wind  brought  deliverance;  and  by 
daylight  on  the  morrow  a  schooner  and  two  cutters  lay 
moored  in  the  port  of  Rotoava.  Nor  only  in  the  outer 
sea,  but  in  the  lagoon  itself,  a  certain  traffic  woke  with 
the  reviving  breeze;  and  among  the  rest  one  Francois, 
a  half-blood,  set  sail  with  the  first  light  in  his  own  half- 
decked  cutter.  He  had  held  before  a  court  appoint- 
ment; being,  I  believe,  the  Residency  sweeper-out. 
Trouble  arising  with  the  unpopular  Vice-Resident,  he 
had  thrown  his  honours  down,  and  fled  to  the  far  parts 
of  the  atoll  to  plant  cabbages  —  or  at  least  coco-palms. 
Thence  he  was  now  driven  by  such  need  as  even  a 
Cincinnatus  must  acknowledge,  and  flired  for  the  capital 
city,  the  seat  of  his  late  functions,  to  exchange  half  a 
ton  of  copra  for  necessary  flour.  And  here,  for  a  while, 
the  story  leaves  to  tell  of  his  voyaging. 

It  must  tell,  instead,  of  our  house,  where,  toward 
seven  at  night,  the  catechist  came  suddenly  in  with  his 
pleased  air  of  being  welcome;  armed  besides  with  a 
considerable  bunch  of  keys.  These  he  proceeded  to 
try  on  the  sea-chests,  drawing  each  in  turn  from  its  place 
against  the  wall.  Heads  of  strangers  appeared  in  the 
doorway  and  volunteered  suggestions.  All  in  vain. 
Either  they  were  the  wrong  keys  or  the  wrong  boxes, 

177 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

or  the  wrong  man  was  trying  them.  For  a  little  Taniera 
fumed  and  fretted;  then  had  recourse  to  the  more  sum- 
mary method  of  the  hatchet;  one  of  the  chests  was 
broken  open,  and  an  armful  of  clothing,  male  and  fe- 
male, baled  out  and  handed  to  the  strangers  on  the 
verandah. 

These  were  Francois,  his  wife,  and  their  child. 
About  eight  a.  m.,  in  the  midst  of  the  lagoon,  their 
cutter  had  capsized  in  jibbing.  They  got  her  righted, 
and  though  she  was  still  full  of  water  put  the  child  on 
board.  The  mainsail  had  been  carried  away,  but  the 
jib  still  drew  her  sluggishly  along,  and  Francois  and  the 
woman  swam  astern  and  worked  the  rudder  with  their 
hands.  The  cold  was  cruel;  the  fatigue,  as  time  went 
on,  became  excessive;  and  in  that  preserve  of  sharks, 
fear  hunted  them.  Again  and  again,  Francois,  the  half- 
breed,  would  have  desisted  and  gone  down;  but  the 
woman,  whole  blood  of  an  amphibious  race,  still  sup- 
ported him  with  cheerful  words.  I  am  reminded  of  a 
woman  of  Hawaii  who  swam  with  her  husband,  1  dare 
not  say  how  many  miles,  in  a  high  sea,  and  came 
ashore  at  last  with  his  dead  body  in  her  arms.  It 
was  about  five  in  the  evening,  after  nine  hours'  swim- 
ming, that  Francois  and  his  v/ife  reached  land  at  Roto- 
ava.  The  gallant  fight  was  won,  and  instantly  the 
more  childish  side  of  native  character  appears.  They 
had  supped,  and  told  and  retold  their  story,  dripping 
as  they  came;  the  flesh  of  the  woman,  whom  Mrs.  Ste- 
venson helped  to  shift,  was  cold  as  stone;  and  Francois, 
having  changed  to  a  dry  cotton  shirt  and  trousers,  passed 
the  remainder  of  the  evening  on  my  floor  and  between 
open  doorways,  in  a  thorough  draught.     Yet  Francois, 

.78 


A    HOUSE  TO    LET   IN    A    LOW    ISLAND 

the  son  of  a  French  flither,  speaks  excellent  French  him- 
self and  seems  intelligent. 

It  was  our  first  idea  that  the  catechist,  true  to  his 
evangelical  vocation,  was  clothing  the  naked  from  his 
superfluity.  Then  it  came  out  that  Francois  was  but 
dealing  with  his  own.  The  clothes  were  his,  so  was 
the  chest,  so  was  the  house.  Francois  was  in  fact  the 
landlord.  Yet  you  observe  he  had  hung  back  on  the 
verandah  while  Taniera  tried  his  'prentice  hand  upon 
the  locks;  and  even  now,  when  his  true  character  ap- 
peared, the  only  use  he  made  of  the  estate  was  to  leave 
the  clothes  of  his  family  drying  on  the  fence.  Taniera 
was  still  the  friend  of  the  house,  still  fed  the  poultry, 
still  came  about  us  on  his  daily  visits,  Francois,  during 
the  remainder  of  his  stay,  holding  bashfully  aloof.  And 
there  was  stranger  matter.  Since  Francois  had  lost  the 
whole  load  of  his  cutter,  the  half  ton  of  copra,  an  axe, 
bowls,  knives,  and  clothes  —  since  he  had  in  a  manner 
to  begin  the  world  again,  and  his  necessary  flour  was 
not  yet  bought  or  paid  for —  I  proposed  to  advance  him 
what  he  needed  on  the  rent.  To  my  enduring  amaze- 
ment he  refused,  and  the  reason  he  gave  —  if  that  can 
be  called  a  reason  which  but  darkens  counsel  —  was 
that  Taniera  was  his  friend.  His  friend,  you  observe; 
not  his  creditor.  1  inquired  into  that,  and  was  assured 
that  Taniera,  an  exile  in  a  strange  isle,  might  possibly 
be  in  debt  himself,  but  certainly  was  no  man's  creditor. 

Very  early  one  morning  we  were  awakened  by  a 
bustling  presence  in  the  yard,  and  found  our  camp  had 
been  surprised  by  a  tall,  lean,  old  native  lady,  dressed 
in  what  were  obviously  widow's  weeds.  You  could 
see  at  a  glance  she  was  a  notable  woman,  a  housewife, 

"79 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

sternly  practical,  alive  with  energy,  and  with  fine  pos- 
sibilities of  teinper.  Indeed  there  was  nothing  na- 
tive about  her  but  the  skin;  and  the  type  abounds, 
and  is  everywhere  respected,  nearer  home.  It  did  us 
good  to  see  her  scour  the  grounds,  examining  the 
plants  and  chickens;  watering,  feeding,  trimming 
them;  taking  angry,  purpose-like  possession.  When 
she  neared  the  house  our  sympathy  abated;  when  she 
came  to  the  broken  chest  I  wished  I  were  elsewhere. 
We  had  scarce  a  word  in  common;  but  her  whole  lean 
body  spoke  for  her  with  indignant  eloquence.  "  My 
chest!  "  it  cried,  with  a  stress  on  the  possessive.  "  My 
chest  —  broken  open!  This  is  a  fine  state  of  things!" 
1  hastened  to  lay  the  blame  where  it  belonged — on 
Fnin(;ois  and  his  wife  —  and  found  I  had  made  things 
worse  instead  of  better.  She  repeated  the  names  at 
first  with  incredulity,  then  with  despair.  A  while  she 
seemed  stunned,  next  fell  to  disembowelling  the  box, 
piling  the  goods  on  the  floor,  and  visibly  computing 
the  extent  of  Fran(;ois's  ravages;  and  presently  after  she 
was  observed  in  high  speech  with  Taniera,  who  seemed 
to  hang  an  ear  like  one  reproved. 

Here,  then,  by  all  known  marks,  should  be  my  land- 
lady at  last;  here  was  every  character  of  the  proprietor 
fully  developed.  Should  I  not  approach  her  on  the  still 
depending  question  of  my  rent  ?  I  carried  the  point  to 
an  adviser.  "Nonsense!"  he  cried.  "  That's  the  old 
woman,  the  mother.  It  doesn't  belong  to  her.  I  be- 
lieve that's  the  man  the  house  belongs  to,"  and  he 
pointed  to  one  of  the  coloured  photographs  on  the 
wall.  On  this  I  gave  up  all  desire  of  understanding; 
and  when  the  time  came  for  me  to  leave,  in  the  judg- 

180 


A    HOUSE   TO    LET    IN    A    LOW    ISLAND 

ment-hall  of  the  archipelago,  and  with  the  awful  coun- 
tenance of  the  acting  Governor,  I  duly  paid  my  rent  to 
Taniera.  He  was  satisfied,  and  so  was  I.  But  what 
had  he  to  do  with  it?  Mr,  Donat,  acting  magistrate 
and  a  man  of  kindred  blood,  could  throw  no  light  upon 
the  mystery;  a  plain  private  person,  with  a  taste  for 
letters,  cannot  be  expected  to  do  more. 


CHAPTER  IV 

TRAITS   AND   SECTS   IN    THE    PAUMOTUS 

The  most  careless  reader  must  have  remarked  a 
change  of  air  since  the  Marquesas.  The  house,  crowded 
with  effects,  the  bustling  housewife  counting  her  pos- 
sessions, the  serious,  indoctrinated  island  pastor,  the 
long  fight  for  life  in  the  lagoon:  here  are  traits  of  a  new 
world.  I  read  in  a  pamphlet  (1  will  not  give  the  au- 
thor's name)  that  the  Marquesan  especially  resembles 
the  Paumotuan.  1  should  take  the  two  races,  though 
so  near  in  neighbourhood,  to  be  extremes  of  Polynesian 
diversity.  The  Marquesan  is  certainly  the  most  beau- 
tiful of  human  races,  and  one  of  the  tallest — the  Pau- 
motuan averaging  a  good  inch  shorter,  and  not  even 
handsome;  the  Marquesan  open-handed,  inert,  insen- 
sible to  religion,  childishly  self-indulgent — the  Paumo- 
tuan greedy,  hardy,  enterprising,  a  religious  disputant, 
and  with  a  trace  of  the  ascetic  character. 

Yet  a  few  years  ago,  and  the  people  of  the  archi- 
pelago were  crafty  savages.  Their  isles  might  be  called 
sirens'  isles,  not  merely  from  the  attraction  they  exerted 
on  the  passing  mariner,  but  from  the  perils  that  awaited 
him  on  shore.  Even  to  this  day,  in  certain  outlying 
islands,  danger  lingers;  and  the  civilised  Paumotuan 
dreads  to  land  and  hesitates  to  accost  his  backward 


TRAITS   AND   SECTS   IN   THE   PAUMOTUS 

brother.  But,  except  in  these,  to-day  the  peril  is  a 
memory.  When  our  generation  were  yet  in  the  cradle 
and  playroom  it  was  still  a  living  fact.  Between  1830 
and  1840,  Hao,  for  instance,  was  a  place  of  the  most 
dangerous  approach,  where  ships  were  seized  and 
crews  kidnapped.  As  late  as  1856,  the  schooner  Sarah 
Aim  sailed  from  Papeete  and  was  seen  no  more.  She 
had  women  on  board,  and  children,  the  captain's  wife, 
a  nursemaid,  a  baby,  and  the  two  young  sons  of  a  Cap- 
tain Steven  on  their  way  to  the  mainland  for  schooling. 
All  were  supposed  to  have  perished  in  a  squall.  A 
year  later,  the  captain  of  the  Julia,  coasting  along  the 
island  variously  called  Bligh,  Lagoon,  and  Tematangi, 
saw  armed  natives  follow  the  course  of  his  schooner, 
clad  in  many-coloured  stuffs.  Suspicion  was  at  once 
aroused;  the  mother  of  the  lost  children  was  profuse 
of  money;  and  one  expedition  having  found  the  place 
deserted,  and  returned  content  with  firing  a  few  shots, 
she  raised  and  herself  accompanied  another.  None  ap- 
peared to  greet  or  to  oppose  them;  they  roamed  a 
while  among  abandoned  huts  and  empty  thickets;  then 
formed  two  parties  and  set  forth  to  beat,  from  end  to 
end,  the  pandanus  jungle  of  the  island.  One  man  re- 
mained alone  by  the  landing-place — Teina,  a  chief  of 
Anaa,  leader  of  the  armed  natives  who  made  the 
strength  of  the  expedition.  Now  that  his  comrades 
were  departed  this  way  and  that,  on  their  laborious 
exploration,  the  silence  fell  profound;  and  this  silence 
was  the  ruin  of  the  islanders.  A  sound  of  stones  rat- 
tling caught  the  ear  of  Teina.  He  looked,  thinking  to 
perceive  a  crab,  and  saw  instead  the  brown  hand  of  a 
human  being  issue  from  a  fissure  in  the  ground.     A 

183 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

shout  recalled  the  search  parties  and  announced  their 
doom  to  the  buried  caitiffs.  In  the  cave  below,  sixteen 
were  found  crouching  among  human  bones  and  singu- 
lar and  horrid  curiosities.  One  was  a  head  of  golden 
hair,  supposed  to  be  a  relic  of  the  captain's  wife;  an- 
other was  half  of  the  body  of  a  European  child,  sun- 
dried  and  stuck  upon  a  stick,  doubtless  with  some 
design  of  wizardry. 

The  Paumotuan  is  eager  to  be  rich.  He  saves,  grudges, 
buries  money,  fears  not  work.  For  a  dollar  each,  two 
natives  passed  the  hours  of  daylight  cleaning  our  ship's 
copper.  It  was  strange  to  see  them  so  indefatigable 
and  so  much  at  ease  in  the  water  —  working  at  times 
with  their  pipes  lighted,  the  smoker  at  times  submerged 
and  only  the  glowing  bowl  above  the  surface;  it  was 
stranger  still  to  think  they  were  next  congeners  to  the 
incapable  Marquesan.  But  the  Paumotuan  not  only 
saves,  grudges,  and  works,  he  steals  besides;  or,  to  be 
more  precise,  he  swindles.  He  will  never  deny  a  debt, 
he  only  flees  his  creditor.  He  is  always  keen  for  an 
advance;  so  soon  as  he  has  fingered  it  he  disappears. 
He  knows  your  ship;  so  soon  as  it  nears  one  island,  he 
is  off  to  another.  You  may  think  you  know  his  name ; 
he  has  already  changed  it.  Pursuit  in  that  infinity  of 
isles  were  fruitless.  The  result  can  be  given  in  a  nut- 
shell. It  has  been  actually  proposed  in  a  Government 
report  to  secure  debts  by  taking  a  photograph  of  the 
debtor;  and  the  other  day  in  Papeete  credits  on  the 
Paumotus  to  the  amount  of  sixteen  thousand  pounds 
were  sold  for  less  than  forty  —  qnatre  cent  mille  francs 
pour  moins  de  milk  francs.  Even  so,  the  purchase 
was  thought  hazardous;  and  only  the  man  who  made 

184 


TRAITS   AND  SECTS   IN    THE   PAUMOTUS 

it  and  who  had  special  opportunities  could  have  dared 
to  give  so  much. 

The  Paumotuan  is  sincerely  attached  to  those  of  his 
ou'n  blood  and  household.  A  touching  affection  some- 
times unites  wife  and  husband.  Their  children,  while 
they  are  alive,  completely  rule  them;  after  they  are 
dead,  their  bones  or  their  mummies  are  often  jealously 
preserved  and  carried  from  atoll  to  atoll  in  the  wander- 
ings of  the  family,  I  was  told  there  were  many  houses 
in  Fakarava  with  the  mummy  of  a  child  locked  in  a 
sea-chest;  after  1  heard  it,  1  would  glance  a  little  jeal- 
ously at  those  by  my  own  bed;  in  that  cupboard,  also, 
it  was  possible  there  was  a  tiny  skeleton. 

The  race  seems  in  a  fair  way  to  survive.  From  fif- 
teen islands,  whose  rolls  I  had  occasion  to  consult,  I 
found  a  proportion  of  59  births  to  47  deaths  for  1887. 
Dropping  three  out  of  the  fifteen,  there  remained  for 
the  other  twelve  the  comfortable  ratio  of  50  births  to 
}2  deaths.  Long  habits  of  hardship  and  activity  doubt- 
less explain  the  contrast  with  the  Marquesan  figures. 
But  the  Paumotuan  displays,  besides,  a  certain  concern 
for  health  and  the  rudiments  of  a  sanitary  discipline. 
Public  talk  with  these  free-spoken  people  plays  the 
part  of  the  Contagious  Diseases  Act;  incomers  to  fresh 
islands  anxiously  inquire  if  all  be  well;  and  syphilis, 
when  contracted,  is  successfully  treated  with  indige- 
nous herbs.  Like  their  neighbors  of  Tahiti,  from  whom 
they  have  perhaps  imbibed  the  error,  they  regard  lep- 
rosy with  comparative  indifference,  elephantiasis  with 
disproportionate  fear.  But,  unlike  indeed  to  the  Tahi- 
tian,  their  alarm  puts  on  the  guise  of  self-defence.  Any 
one  stricken  with  this  painful  and  ugly  malady  is  con- 

185 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

fined  to  the  ends  of  villages,  denied  the  use  of  paths 
and  highways,  and  condemned  to  transport  himself  be- 
tween his  house  and  coco-patch  by  water  only,  his 
very  footprint  being  held  infectious.  Fe'efe'e,  being  a 
creature  of  marshes  and  the  sequel  of  malarial  fever,  is 
not  original  in  atolls.  On  the  single  isle  of  Makatea, 
where  the  lagoon  is  now  a  marsh,  the  disease  has 
made  a  home.  Many  suffer:  they  are  excluded  (if  Mr. 
Wilmot  be  right)  from  much  of  the  comfort  of  society; 
and  it  is  believed  they  take  a  secret  vengeance.  The 
dejections  of  the  sick  are  considered  highly  poisonous. 
Early  in  the  morning,  it  is  narrated,  aged  and  malicious 
persons  creep  into  the  sleeping  village,  and  stealthily 
make  water  at  the  doors  of  the  houses  of  young  men. 
Thus  they  propagate  disease;  thus  they  breathe  on  and 
obliterate  comeliness  and  health,  the  objects  of  their 
envy.  Whether  horrid  fact  or  more  abominable  legend, 
it  equally  depicts  that  something  bitter  and  energetic 
which  distinguishes  Paumotuan  man. 

The  archipelago  is  divided  between  two  main  reli- 
gions. Catholic  and  Mormon.  They  front  each  other 
proudly  with  a  false  air  of  permanence;  yet  are  but 
shapes,  their  membership  in  a  perpetual  flux.  The 
Mormon  attends  mass  with  devotion;  the  Catholic  sits 
attentive  at  a  Mormon  sermon,  and  to-morrow  each 
may  have  transferred  allegiance.  One  man  had  been 
a  pillar  of  the  Church  of  Rome  for  fifteen  years;  his 
wife  dying,  he  decided  that  must  be  a  poor  religion 
that  could  not  save  a  man  his  wife,  and  turned  Mor- 
mon. According  to  one  informant,  Catholicism  was 
the  more  fashionable  in  health,  but  on  the  approach  of 
sickness  it  was  judged  prudent  to  secede.     As  a  Mor- 

iS6 


TRAITS   AND   SECTS   IN    THE   PAUMOTUS 

mon,  there  were  five  chances  out  of  six  you  might  re- 
cover; as  a  Catholic,  your  hopes  were  small;  and  this 
opinion  is  perhaps  founded  on  the  comfortable  rite  of 
unction. 

We  all  know  what  Catholics  are,  whether  in  the 
Paumotus  or  at  home.  But  the  Paumotuan  Mormon 
seemed  a  phenomenon  apart.  He  marries  but  the  one 
wife,  uses  the  Protestant  Bible,  observes  Protestant 
forms  of  worship,  forbids  the  use  of  liquor  and  tobacco, 
practises  adult  baptism  by  immersion,  and  after  every 
public  sin,  rechristens  the  backslider.  I  advised  with 
Mahinui,  whom  1  found  well  informed  in  the  history  of 
the  American  Mormons,  and  he  declared  against  the 
least  connection.  "Pour  moi,"  said  he,  with  a  fine 
charity,  "  les  Mormons  ici  un  petit  Catholiques."  Some 
months  later  I  had  an  opportunity  to  consult  an  ortho- 
dox fellow-countryman,  an  old  dissenting  Highlander, 
long  settled  in  Tahiti,  but  still  breathing  of  the  heather 
of  Tiree.  "  Why  do  they  call  themselves  Mormons.?" 
I  asked.  "My  dear,  and  that  is  my  question!"  he 
exclaimed.  "  For  by  all  that  1  can  hear  of  their  doc- 
trine, I  have  nothing  to  say  against  it,  and  their  life,  it 
is  above  reproach."  And  for  all  that.  Mormons  they 
are,  but  of  the  earlier  sowing:  the  so-called  Josephites, 
the  followers  of  Joseph  Smith,  the  opponents  of  Brig- 
ham  Young. 

Grant,  then,  the  Mormons  to  be  Mormons.  Fresh 
points  at  once  arise:  What  are  the  Israelites .?  and  what 
the  Kanitus  }  For  a  long  while  back  the  sect  had  been 
divided  into  Mormons  proper  and  so-called  Israelites, 
I  never  could  hear  why.  A  few  years  since  there  came 
a  visiting  missionary  of  the  name  of  Williams,  who 

187 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

made  an  excellent  collection,  and  retired,  leaving  fresh 
disruption  imminent.  Something  irregular  (as  I  was 
told)  in  his  way  of  "opening  the  service"  had  raised 
partisans  and  enemies;  the  church  was  once  more 
rent  asunder;  and  a  new  sect,  the  Kanitu,  issued 
from  the  division.  Since  then  Kanitus  and  Israel- 
ites, like  the  Cameronians  and  the  United  Presbyte- 
rians, have  made  common  cause;  and  the  ecclesiastical 
history  of  the  Paumotus  is,  for  the  moment,  unevent- 
ful. There  will  be  more  doing  before  long,  and  these 
isles  bid  fair  to  be  the  Scotland  of  the  South.  Two 
things  I  could  never  learn.  The  nature  of  the  innova- 
tions of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Williams  none  would  tell  me, 
and  of  the  meaning  of  the  name  Kanitu  none  had  a 
guess.  It  was  not  Tahitian,  it  was  not  Marquesan;  it 
formed  no  part  of  that  ancient  speech  of  the  Paumotus, 
now  passing  swiftly  into  obsolescence.  One  man,  a 
priest,  God  bless  him!  said  it  was  the  Latin  for  a  little 
dog.  1  have  found  it  since  as  the  name  of  a  god  in 
New  Guinea;  it  must  be  a  bolder  man  than  I  who 
should  hint  at  a  connection.  Here,  then,  is  a  singular 
thing:  a  brand-new  sect,  arising  by  popular  acclama- 
tion, and  a  nonsense  word  invented  for  its  name. 

The  design  of  mystery  seems  obvious,  and  according 
to  a  very  intelligent  observer,  Mr.  Magee  of  Mangareva, 
this  element  of  the  mysterious  is  a  chief  attraction  of 
the  Mormon  Church.  It  enjoys  some  of  the  status  of 
Freemasonry  at  home,  and  there  is  for  the  convert  some 
of  the  exhilaration  of  adventure.  Other  attractions  are 
certainly  conjoined.  Perpetual  rebaptism,  leading  to  a 
succession  of  baptismal  feasts,  is  found,  both  from  the 
social  and  the  spiritual  side,  a  pleasing  feature.     More 

iS8 


TRAITS   AND  SECTS   IN   THE   PAUMOTUS 

important  is  the  fact  that  all  the  faithful  enjoy  office; 
perhaps  more  important  still,  the  strictness  of  the  dis- 
cipline. ' '  The  veto  on  liquor, "  said  Mr.  Magee,  ' '  brings 
them  plenty  members."  There  is  no  doubt  these  island- 
ers are  fond  of  drink,  and  no  doubt  they  refrain  from 
the  indulgence;  a  bout  on  a  feast-day,  for  instance,  may 
be  followed  by  a  week  or  a  month  of  rigorous  sobriety. 
Mr.  Wilmot  attributes  this  to  Paumotuan  frugality  and 
the  love  of  hoarding;  it  goes  far  deeper.  I  have  men- 
tioned that  1  made  a  feast  on  board  the  Casco.  To  wash 
down  ship's  bread  and  jam,  each  guest  was  given  the 
choice  of  rum  or  syrup,  and  out  of  the  whole  number 
only  one  man  voted  —  in  a  defiant  tone,  and  amid  shouts 
of  mirth  —  for  "Trum"  !  This  was  in  public.  I  had 
the  meanness  to  repeat  the  experiment,  whenever  I  had 
a  chance,  within  the  four  walls  of  my  house;  and  three 
at  least,  who  had  refused  at  the  festival,  greedily  drank 
rum  behind  a  door.  But  there  were  others  thoroughly 
consistent.  I  said  the  virtues  of  the  race  were  bour- 
geois and  puritan;  and  how  bourgeois  is  this!  how 
puritanic!  how  Scottish!  and  how  Yankee!  —  the  temp- 
tation, the  resistance,  the  public  hypocritical  conform- 
ity, the  Pharisees,  the  Holy  Willies,  and  the  true  disciples. 
With  such  a  people  the  popularity  of  an  ascetic  Church 
appears  legitimate;  in  these  strict  rules,  in  this  perpet- 
ual supervision,  the  weak  find  their  advantage,  the 
strong  a  certain  pleasure;  and  the  doctrine  of  rebap- 
tism,  a  clean  bill  and  a  fresh  start,  will  comfort  many 
staggering  professors. 

There  is  yet  another  sect,  or  what  is  called  a  sect  — 
no  doubt  improperly —  that  of  the  Whistlers.  Duncan 
Cameron,  so  clear  in  favor  of  the  Mormons,  was  no  less 

189 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

loud  in  condemnation  of  the  Whistlers.  Yet  I  do  not 
know;  1  still  fancy  there  is  some  connection,  perhaps 
fortuitous,  probably  disavowed.  Here  at  least  are  some 
doings  in  the  house  of  an  Israelite  clergyman  (or  pro- 
phet) in  the  island  of  Anaa,  of  which  1  am  equally  sure 
that  Duncan  would  disclaim  and  the  Whistlers  hail 
them  for  an  imitation  of  their  own.  My  informant,  a 
Tahitian  and  a  Catholic,  occupied  one  part  of  the  house; 
the  prophet  and  his  family  lived  in  the  other.  Night 
after  night  the  Mormons,  in  the  one  end,  held  their 
evening  sacrifice  of  song ;  night  after  night,  in  the  other, 
the  wife  of  the  Tahitian  lay  awake  and  listened  to  their 
singing  with  amazement.  At  length  she  could  contain 
herself  no  longer,  woke  her  husband,  and  asked  him 
what  he  heard.  "I  hear  several  persons  singing 
hymns,"  said  he.  "Yes,"  she  returned,  "but  listen 
again!  Do  you  not  hear  something  supernatural?" 
His  attention  thus  directed,  he  was  aware  of  a  strange 
buzzing  voice  —  and  yet  he  declared  it  was  beautiful  — 
which  justly  accompanied  the  singers.  The  next  day 
he  made  inquiries.  "It  is  a  spirit,"  said  the  prophet, 
with  entire  simplicity,  "which  has  lately  made  a  prac- 
tice of  joining  us  at  family  worship."  It  did  not  appear 
the  thing  was  visible,  and,  like  other  spirits  raised  nearer 
home  in  these  degenerate  days,  it  was  rudely  ignorant, 
at  first  could  only  buzz,  and  had  only  learned  of  late  to 
bear  a  part  correctly  in  the  music. 

The  performances  of  the  Whistlers  are  more  business- 
like. Their  meetings  are  held  publicly  with  open  doors, 
all  being  "cordially  invited  to  attend."  The  faithful  sit 
about  the  room  —  according  to  one  informant,  singing 
hymns;  according  to  another,  now  singing  and  now 

190 


TRAITS   AND   SECTS   IN   THE   PAUMOTUS 

whistling;  the  leader,  the  wizard  —  let  me  rather  say, 
the  medium — sits  in  the  midst,  enveloped  in  a  sheet  and 
silent;  and  presently,  from  just  above  his  head,  or 
sometimes  from  the  midst  of  the  roof,  an  aerial  whis- 
tling proceeds,  appalling  to  the  inexperienced.  This,  it 
appears,  is  the  language  of  the  dead :  its  purport  is 
taken  down  progressively  by  one  of  the  expert,  writing, 
I  was  told,  "as  fast  as  a  telegraph  operator";  and  the 
communications  are  at  last  made  public.  They  are  of 
the  baldest  triviality;  a  schooner  is  perhaps  announced, 
some  idle  gossip  reported  of  a  neighbour,  or  if  the  spirit 
shall  have  been  called  to  consultation  on  a  case  of  sick- 
ness, a  remedy  may  be  suggested.  One  of  these,  im- 
mersion in  scalding  water,  not  long  ago  proved  fatal  to 
the  patient.  The  whole  business  is  very  dreary,  very 
silly,  and  very  European :  it  has  none  of  the  picturesque 
qualities  of  similar  conjurations  in  New  Zealand;  it 
seems  to  possess  no  kernel  of  possible  sense,  like  some 
that  I  shall  describe  among  the  Gilbert  islanders.  Yet 
I  was  told  that  many  hardy,  intelligent  natives  were  in- 
veterate Whistlers.  "  Like  Mahinui  ?"  1  asked,  willing 
to  have  a  standard;  and  1  was  told  "Yes."  Why 
should  I  wonder.?  Men  more  enlightened  than  my 
convict-catechist  sit  down  at  home  to  follies  equally 
sterile  and  dull. 

The  medium  is  sometimes  female.  It  was  a  woman, 
for  instance,  who  introduced  these  practices  on  the 
north  coast  of  Taiarapu,  to  the  scandal  of  her  own  con- 
nections, her  brother-in-law  in  particular  declaring  she 
was  drunk.  But  what  shocked  Tahiti  might  seem  fit 
enough  in  the  Paumotus,  the  more  so  as  certain  women 
there  possess,  by  the  gift  of  nature,  singular  and  useful 

191 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

powers.  They  say  they  are  honest,  well-intentioned 
ladies,  some  of  them  embarrassed  by  their  weird  in- 
heritance. And  indeed  the  trouble  caused  by  this  en- 
dowment is  so  great,  and  the  protection  afforded  so 
infinitesimally  small,  that  1  hesitate  whether  to  call  it  a 
gift  or  a  hereditary  curse.  You  may  rob  this  lady's 
coco-patch,  steal  her  canoes,  burn  down  her  house,  and 
slay  her  family  scatheless;  but  one  thing  you  must  not 
do:  you  must  not  lay  a  hand  upon  her  sleeping-mat, 
or  your  belly  will  swell,  and  you  can  only  be  cured  by 
the  lady  or  her  husband.  Here  is  the  report  of  an  eye- 
witness, Tasmanian  born,  educated,  a  man  who  has 
made  money  —  certainly  no  fool.  In  1886  he  was  pres- 
ent in  a  house  on  Makatea,  where  two  lads  began  to 
skylark  on  the  mats,  and  were  (1  think)  ejected.  In- 
stantly after,  their  bellies  began  to  swell;  pains  took 
hold  on  them;  all  manner  of  island  remedies  were  ex- 
hibited in  vain,  and  rubbing  only  magnified  their  suf- 
ferings. The  man  of  the  house  was  called,  explained 
the  nature  of  the  visitation,  and  prepared  the  cure.  A 
cocoa-nut  was  husked,  filled  with  herbs,  and  with  all 
the  ceremonies  of  a  launch,  and  the  utterance  of  spells 
in  the  Paumotuan  language,  committed  to  the  sea. 
From  that  moment  the  pains  began  to  grow  more  easy 
and  the  swelling  to  subside.  The  reader  may  stare. 
I  can  assure  him,  if  he  moved  much  among  old  resi- 
dents of  the  archipelago,  he  would  be  driven  to  admit 
one  thing  of  two  —  either  that  there  is  something  in  the 
swollen  bellies  or  nothing  in  the  evidence  of  man. 

I  have  not  met  these  gifted  ladies;  but  I  had  an  ex- 
perience of  my  own,  for  I  have  played,  for  one  night 
only,  the  part  of  the  whistling  spirit.     It  had  been  blow- 

192 


TRAITS   AND   SECTS    IN    THE    PAUMOTUS 

ing  wearily  all  day,  but  with  the  fall  of  night  the  wind 
abated,  and  the  moon,  which  was  then  fall,  rolled  in  a 
clear  sky.  We  went  southward  down  the  island  on  the 
side  of  the  lagoon,  walking  through  long-drawn  forest 
isles  of  palm,  and  on  a  floor  of  snowy  sand.  No  life 
was  abroad,  nor  sound  of  life;  till  in  the  clear  part  of 
the  isle  we  spied  the  embers  of  a  fire,  and  not  far  off, 
in  a  dark  house,  heard  natives  talking  softly.  To  sit 
without  a  light,  even  in  company,  and  under  cover,  is 
for  a  Paumotuan  a  somewhat  hazardous  extreme.  The 
whole  scene  —  the  strong  moonlight  and  crude  shadows 
on  the  sand,  the  scattered  coals,  the  sound  of  the  low 
voices  from  the  house,  and  the  lap  of  the  lagoon  along 
the  beach  —  put  me  (1  know  not  how)  on  thoughts  of 
superstition.  I  was  barefoot,  1  observed  my  steps  were 
noiseless,  and  drawing  near  to  the  dark  house,  but 
keeping  well  in  shadow,  began  to  whistle.  "The 
Heaving  of  the  Lead"  was  my  air — no  very  tragic 
piece.  With  the  first  note  the  conversation  and  all 
movement  ceased ;  silence  accompanied  me  while  1  con- 
tinued ;  and  when  1  passed  that  way  on  my  return,  I 
found  the  lamp  was  lighted  in  the  house,  but  the  tongues 
were  still  mute.  All  night,  as  I  now  think,  the  wretches 
shivered  and  were  silent.  For  indeed,  I  had  no  guess 
at  the  time  at  the  nature  and  magnitude  of  the  terrors  I 
inflicted,  or  with  what  grisly  images  the  notes  of  that 
old  song  had  peopled  the  dark  house. 


193 


CHAPTER  V 


A   PAUMOTUAN   FUNERAL 


No,  I  had  no  guess  of  these  men"s  terrors.  Yet  I  had 
received  ere  that  a  hint,  if  I  had  understood;  and  the 
occasion  was  a  funeral. 

A  little  apart  in  the  main  avenue  of  Rotoava,  in  a  low 
hut  of  leaves  that  opened  on  a  small  enclosure,  like  a 
pigsty  on  a  pen,  an  old  man  dwelt  solitary  with  his 
aged  wife.  Perhaps  they  were  too  old  to  migrate  with 
the  others;  perhaps  they  were  too  poor,  and  had  no 
possessions  to  dispute.  At  least  they  had  remained  be- 
hind; and  it  thus  befell  that  they  were  invited  to  my 
feast.  I  daresay  it  was  quite  a  piece  of  politics  in  the 
pigsty  whether  to  come  or  not  to  come,  and  the  husband 
long  swithered  between  curiosity  and  age,  till  curiosity 
conquered,  and  they  came,  and  in  the  midst  of  that  last 
merry-making  death  tapped  him  on  the  shoulder.  For 
some  days,  when  the  sky  was  bright  and  the  wind  cool, 
his  mat  would  be  spread  in  the  main  highway  of  the 
village,  and  he  was  to  be  seen  lying  there  inert,  a  mere 
handful  of  man,  his  wife  inertly  seated  by  his  head. 
They  seemed  to  have  outgrown  alike  our  needs  and 
faculties;  they  neither  spoke  nor  listened;  they  suffered 
us  to  pass  without  a  glance;  the  wife  did  not  fan,  she 
seemed  not  to  attend  upon  her  husband,  and  the  two 

'94 


A    PAUMOTUAN    FUNERAL 

poor  antiques  sat  juxtaposed  under  the  high  canopy  of 
pahns,  the  human  tragedy  reduced  to  its  bare  elements,  a 
sight  beyond  pathos,  stirring  a  thrill  of  curiosity.  And 
yet  there  was  one  touch  of  the  pathetic  haunted  me :  that 
so  much  youth  and  expectation  should  have  run  in  these 
starved  veins,  and  the  man  should  have  squandered  all 
his  lees  of  life  on  a  pleasure  party. 

On  the  morning  of  17th  September  the  sufferer  died, 
and,  time  pressing,  he  was  buried  the  same  day  at  four. 
The  cemetery  lies  to  seaward  behind  Government 
House;  broken  coral,  like  so  much  road-metal,  forms 
the  surface;  a  few  wooden  crosses,  a  few  inconsiderable 
upright  stones,  designate  graves;  a  mortared  wall,  high 
enough  to  lean  on,  rings  it  about;  a  clustering  shrub 
surrounds  it  with  pale  leaves.  Here  was  the  grave  dug 
that  morning,  doubtless  by  uneasy  diggers,  to  the 
sound  of  the  nigh  sea  and  the  cries  of  sea-birds;  mean- 
while the  dead  man  waited  in  his  house,  and  the  widow 
and  another  aged  woman  leaned  on  the  fence  before  the 
door,  no  speech  upon  their  lips,  no  speculation  in  their 
eyes. 

Sharp  at  the  hour  the  procession  was  in  march,  the 
coffin  wrapped  in  white  and  carried  by  four  bearers; 
mourners  behind  —  not  many,  for  not  many  remained 
in  Rotoava,  and  not  many  in  black,  for  these  were  poor; 
the  men  in  straw  hats,  white  coats,  and  blue  trowsers 
or  the  gorgeous  parti-coloured  pariu,  the  Tahitian  kilt; 
the  women,  with  a  few  exceptions,  brightly  habited. 
Far  in  the  rear  came  the  widow,  painfully  carrying  the 
dead  man's  mat;  a  creature  aged  beyond  humanity,  to 
the  likeness  of  some  missing  link. 

The  dead  man  had  been  a  Mormon;  but  the  Mormon 
•95 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

clergyman  was  gone  with  the  rest  to  wrangle  over 
boundaries  in  the  adjacent  isle,  and  a  layman  took  his 
office.  Standing  at  the  head  of  the  open  grave,  in  a 
white  coat  and  blue  pariu,  his  Tahitian  Bible  in  his 
hand  and  one  eye  bound  with  a  red  handkerchief,  he 
read  solemnly  that  chapter  in  Job  which  has  been  read 
and  heard  over  the  bones  of  so  many  of  our  fathers,  and 
with  a  good  voice  offered  up  two  prayers.  The  wind 
and  the  surf  bore  a  burthen.  By  the  cemetery  gate  a 
mother  in  crimson  suckled  an  infant  rolled  in  blue.  In  the 
midst  the  widow  sat  upon  the  ground  and  polished  one 
of  the  cofifm-stretchers  with  a  piece  of  coral;  a  little  later 
she  had  turned  her  back  to  the  grave  and  was  playing 
with  a  leaf.  Did  she  understand  ?  God  knows.  The 
officiant  paused  a  moment,  stooped,  and  gathered  and 
threw  reverently  on  the  coffin  a  handful  of  rattling  coral. 
Dust  to  dust:  but  the  grains  of  this  dust  were  gross  like 
cherries,  and  the  true  dust  that  was  to  follow  sat  near 
by,  still  cohering  (as  by  miracle)  in  the  tragic  sem- 
blance of  a  female  ape. 

So  far.  Mormon  or  not,  it  was  a  Christian  funeral. 
The  well-known  passage  had  been  read  from  Job,  the 
prayers  had  been  rehearsed,  the  grave  was  filled,  the 
mourners  straggled  homeward.  With  a  little  coarser 
grain  of  covering  earth,  a  little  nearer  outcry  of  the  sea, 
a  stronger  glare  of  sunlight  on  the  rude  enclosure,  and 
some  incongruous  colours  of  attire,  the  well-remem- 
bered form  had  been  observed. 

By  rights  it  should  have  been  otherwise.  The  mat 
should  have  been  buried  with  its  owner;  but,  the  family 
being  poor,  it  was  thriftily  reserved  for  a  fresh  service. 
The  widow  should  have  flung  herself  upon  the  grave 

196 


A    f'AUMOTUAN    FUNERAL 

and  raised  the  voice  of  official  grief,  the  neighbours  have 
chimed  in,  and  the  narrow  isle  rung  for  a  space  with 
lamentation.  But  the  widow  was  old ;  perhaps  she  had 
forgotten,  perhaps  never  understood,  and  she  played  like 
a  child  with  leaves  and  coffin-stretchers.  In  all  ways 
my  guest  was  buried  with  maimed  rights.  Strange  to 
think  that  his  last  conscious  pleasure  was  the  Casco  and 
my  feast;  strange  to  think  that  he  had  limped  there,  an 
old  child,  looking  for  some  new  good.  And  the  good 
thing,  rest,  had  been  allotted  him. 

But  though  the  widow  had  neglected  much,  there 
was  one  part  she  must  not  utterly  neglect.  She  came 
away  with  the  dispersing  funeral;  but  the  dead  man's 
mat  was  left  behind  upon  the  grave,  and  I  learned  that 
by  set  of  sun  she  must  return  to  sleep  there.  This  vigil 
is  imperative.  From  sundown  till  the  rising  of  the 
morning  star  the  Paumotuan  must  hold  his  watch  above 
the  ashes  of  his  kindred.  Many  friends,  if  the  dead 
have  been  a  man  of  mark,  will  keep  the  watchers  com- 
pany;  they  will  be  well  supplied  with  coverings  against 
the  weather;  1  believe  they  bring  food,  and  the  rite  is 
persevered  in  for  two  weeks.  Our  poor  survivor,  if,  in- 
deed, she  properly  survived,  had  little  to  cover,  and  few 
to  sit  with  her;  on  the  night  of  the  funeral  a  strong 
squall  chased  her  from  her  place  of  watch;  for  days  the 
weather  held  uncertain  and  outrageous;  and  ere  seven 
nights  were  up  she  had  desisted,  and  returned  to  sleep 
in  her  low  roof.  That  she  should  be  at  the  pains  of  re- 
turning for  so  short  a  visit  to  a  solitary  house,  that  this 
borderer  of  the  grave  should  fear  a  little  wind  and  a  wet 
blanket,  filled  me  at  the  time  with  musings.  I  could 
not  say  she  was  indifferent;  she  was  so  far  beyond  me 

197 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

in  experience  that  the  court  of  my  criticism  waived  juris- 
diction ;  but  1  forged  excuses,  telling  myself  she  had  per- 
haps little  to  lament,  perhaps  suffered  n.jch,  perhaps 
understood  nothing.  And  lo!  in  the  whole  affair  there 
was  no  question  whether  of  tenderness  or  piety,  and  the 
sturdy  return  of  this  old  remnant  was  a  mark  either  of 
uncommon  sense,  or  of  uncommon  fortitude. 

Yet  one  thing  had  occurred  that  partly  set  me  on  the 
trail.  I  have  said  the  funeral  passed  much  as  at  home. 
But  when  all  was  over,  when  we  were  trooping  in  de- 
cent silence  from  the  graveyard  gate  and  down  the  path 
to  the  settlement,  a  sudden  inbreak  of  a  different  spirit 
startled  and  perhaps  dismayed  us.  Two  people  walked 
not  far  apart  in  our  procession:  my  friend  Mr.  Donat  — 
Donat-Rimarau.  "  Donat  the  much  handed  "  —  acting 
Vice-Resident,  present  ruler  of  the  archipelago,  by  far 
the  man  of  chief  importance  on  the  scene,  but  known  be- 
sides for  one  of  an  unshakable  good  temper;  and  a  cer- 
tain comely,  strapping  young  Paumotuan  woman,  the 
comeliest  on  the  isle,  not  (let  us  hope)  the  bravest  or  the 
most  polite.  Of  a  sudden,  ere  yet  the  grave  silence  of 
the  funeral  was  broken,  she  made  a  leap  at  the  Resident, 
with  pointed  finger,  shrieked  a  few  words,  and  fell 
back  again  with  a  laughter,  not  a  natural  mirth.  "  What 
did  she  say  to  you  ?  "  1  asked.  "  She  did  not  speak  to 
me,"  said  Donat,  a  shade  perturbed;  "  she  spoke  to  the 
ghost  of  the  dead  man. "  And  the  purport  of  her  speech 
was  this:  "  See  there!  Donat  will  be  a  fine  feast  for  you 
to-night." 

"  M.  Donat  called  it  a  jest,"  I  wrote  at  the  time  in  my 
diary.  "  It  seemed  to  me  more  in  the  nature  of  a  terri- 
fied conjuration,  as  though  she  would  divert  the  ghost's 


A   PAUMOTUAN    FUNERAL 

attention  from  herself.  A  cannibal  race  may  well  have 
cannibal  phantoms."  The  guesses  of  the  traveller  ap- 
pear foredoomed  to  be  erroneous;  yet  in  these  I  was 
precisely  right.  The  woman  had  stood  by  in  terror  at 
the  funeral,  being  then  in  a  dread  spot,  the  graveyard. 
She  looked  on  in  terror  to  the  coming  night,  with  that 
ogre,  a  new  spirit,  loosed  upon  the  isle.  And  the  words 
she  had  cried  in  Donat's  face  were  indeed  a  terrified 
conjuration,  basely  to  shield  herself,  basely  to  dedicate 
another  in  her  stead.  One  thing  is  to  be  said  in  her  ex- 
cuse. Doubtless  she  partly  chose  Donat  because  he  was 
a  man  of  great  good-nature,  but  partly,  too,  because  he 
was  a  man  of  the  half-caste.  For  I  believe  all  natives 
regard  white  blood  as  a  kind  of  talisman  against  the 
powers  of  hell.  In  no  other  way  can  they  explain  the 
unpunished  recklessness  of  Europeans. 


199 


CHAPTER  VI 


GRAVEYARD  STORIES 


With  my  superstitious  friend,  the  ishinder,  I  fear  I  am 
not  wholly  frank,  often  leading  the  way  with  stories  of 
my  own,  and  being  always  a  grave  and  sometimes  an 
excited  hearer.  But  the  deceit  is  scarce  mortal,  since  I 
am  as  pleased  to  hear  as  he  to  tell,  as  pleased  with  the 
story  as  he  with  the  belief;  and  besides,  it  is  entirely 
needful.  For  it  is  scarce  possible  to  exaggerate  the  ex- 
tent and  empire  of  his  superstitions;  they  mould  his 
life,  they  colour  his  thinking;  and  when  he  does  not 
speak  to  me  of  ghosts,  and  gods,  and  devils,  he  is 
playing  the  dissembler  and  talking  only  with  his  lips. 
With  thoughts  so  different,  one  must  indulge  the  other; 
and  I  would  rather  that  1  should  indulge  his  superstition 
than  he  my  incredulity.  Of  one  thing,  besides,  I  may 
be  sure:  Let  me  indulge  it  as  I  please,  I  shall  not  hear 
the  whole;  for  he  is  already  on  his  guard  with  me,  and 
the  amount  of  the  lore  is  boundless. 

1  will  give  but  a  few  instances  at  random,  chiefly 
from  my  own  doorstep  in  Upolu,  during  the  past  month 
(October  1890).  One  of  my  workmen  was  sent  the 
other  day  to  the  banana  patch,  there  to  dig;  this  is  a 
hollow  of  the  mountain,  buried  in  woods,  out  of  all 
sight  and  cry  of  mankind ;  and  long  before  dusk  Lafaele 


GRAVEYARD   STORIES 

was  back  again  beside  the  cook-house  with  embarrassed 
looks;  he  dared  not  longer  stay  alone,  he  was  afraid 
of  "  spilits  in  the  bush."  it  seems  these  are  the  souls 
of  the  unburied  dead,  haunting  where  they  fell,  and 
wearing  woodland  shapes  of  pig,  or  bird,  or  insect;  the 
bush  is  full  of  them,  they  seem  to  eat  nothing,  slay  soli- 
tary wanderers  apparently  in  spite,  and  at  times,  in 
human  form,  go  down  to  villages  and  consort  with  the 
inhabitants  undetected.  So  much  1  learned  a  day  or  so 
after,  walking  in  the  bush  with  a  very  intelligent  youth, 
a  native.  It  was  a  little  before  noon ;  a  grey  day  and 
squally ;  and  perhaps  I  had  spoken  lightly.  A  dark 
squall  burst  on  the  side  of  the  mountain ;  the  woods 
shook  and  cried;  the  dead  leaves  rose  from  the  ground 
in  clouds,  like  butterflies;  and  my  companion  came 
suddenly  to  a  full  stop.  He  was  afraid,  he  said,  of  the 
trees  falling;  but  as  soon  as  I  had  changed  the  subject 
of  our  talk  he  proceeded  with  alacrity.  A  day  or  two 
before  a  messenger  came  up  the  mountain  from  Apia 
with  a  letter;  1  was  in  the  bush,  he  must  await  my 
return,  then  wait  till  I  had  answered:  and  before  I  was 
done  his  voice  sounded  shrill  with  terror  of  the  coming 
night  and  the  long  forest  road.  These  are  the  com- 
mons. Take  the  chiefs.  There  has  been  a  great  com- 
ing and  going  of  signs  and  omens  in  our  group.  One 
river  ran  down  blood;  red  eels  were  captured  in  an- 
other; an  unknown  fish  was  thrown  upon  the  coast, 
an  ominous  word  found  written  on  its  scales.  So  far 
we  might  be  reading  in  a  monkish  chronicle;  now  we 
come  on  a  fresh  note,  at  once  modern  and  Polynesian. 
The  gods  of  Upolu  and  Savaii,  our  two  chief  islands, 
contended  recently  at  cricket.     Since  then  they  are  at 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

war.  Sounds  of  battle  are  heard  to  roll  along  the  coast. 
A  woman  saw  a  man  swim  from  the  high  seas  and 
plunge  direct  into  the  bush;  he  was  no  man  of  that 
neighbourhood;  and  it  was  known  he  was  one  of  the 
gods,  speeding  to  a  council.  Most  perspicuous  of  all,  a 
missionary  on  Savaii,  who  is  also  a  medical  man,  was 
disturbed  late  in  the  night  by  knocking;  it  was  no  hour 
for  the  dispensary,  but  at  length  he  woke  his  servant 
and  sent  him  to  inquire;  the  servant,  looking  from  a 
window,  beheld  crowds  of  persons,  all  with  grievous 
wounds,  lopped  limbs,  broken  heads,  and  bleeding  bul- 
let-holes; but  when  the  door  was  opened  all  had  dis- 
appeared. They  were  gods  from  the  field  of  battle. 
Now  these  reports  have  certainly  significance;  it  is  not 
hard  to  trace  them  to  political  grumblers  or  to  read  in 
them  a  threat  of  coming  trouble;  from  that  merely  hu- 
man side  I  found  them  ominous  myself  But  it  was 
the  spiritual  side  of  their  significance  that  was  discussed 
in  secret  council  by  my  rulers.  I  shall  best  depict  this 
mingled  habit  of  the  Polynesian  mind  by  two  connected 
instances.  I  once  lived  in  a  village,  the  name  of  which 
I  do  not  mean  to  tell.  The  chief  and  his  sister  were 
persons  perfectly  intelligent:  gentlefolk,  apt  of  speech. 
The  sister  was  very  religious,  a  great  church-goer,  one 
that  used  to  reprove  me  if  I  stayed  away;  1  found  after- 
wards that  she  privately  worshipped  a  shark.  The 
chief  himself  was  somewhat  of  a  freethinker;  at  the 
least,  a  latitudinarian:  he  was  a  man,  besides,  filled 
with  European  knowledge  and  accomplishments;  of 
an  impassive,  ironical  habit;  and  I  should  as  soon  have 
expected  superstition  in  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer.  Hear 
the  sequel.     1  had  discovered  by  unmistakable  signs 


GRAVEYARD  Stories 

that  they  buried  too  shallow  in  the  village  graveyard, 
and  I  took  my  friend,  as  the  responsible  authority,  to 
task.  "  There  is  something  wrong  about  your  grave- 
yard," said  I,  "  which  you  must  attend  to,  or  it  may 
have  very  bad  results."  "Something  wrong?  What 
is  it  ?  "  he  asked,  with  an  emotion  that  surprised  me. 
"  If  you  care  to  go  along  there  any  evening  about  nine 
o'clock  you  can  see  for  yourself,"  said  I.  He  stepped 
backward.     "A  ghost!"  he  cried. 

In  short,  in  the  whole  field  of  the  South  Seas,  there 
is  not  one  to  blame  another.  Half  blood  and  whole, 
pious  and  debauched,  intelligent  and  dull,  all  men  be- 
lieve in  ghosts,  all  men  combine  with  their  recent  Chris- 
tianity fear  of  and  a  lingering  faith  in  the  old  island 
deities.  So,  in  Europe,  the  gods  of  Olympus  slowly 
dwindled  into  village  bogies;  so  to-day,  the  theologi- 
cal Highlander  sneaks  from  under  the  eye  of  the  Free 
Church  divine  to  lay  an  offering  by  a  sacred  well. 

I  try  to  deal  with  the  whole  matter  here  because  of  a 
particular  quality  in  Paumotuan  superstitions.  It  is  true 
I  heard  them  told  by  a  man  with  a  genius  for  such  nar- 
rations. Close  about  our  evening  lamp,  within  sound 
of  the  island  surf,  we  hung  on  his  words,  thrilling.  The 
reader,  in  far  other  scenes,  must  listen  close  for  the  faint 
echo. 

This  bundle  of  weird  stories  sprang  from  the  burial 
and  the  woman's  selfish  conjuration.  I  was  dissatisfied 
with  what  I  heard,  harped  upon  questions,  and  struck 
at  last  this  vein  of  metal.  It  is  from  sundown  to  about 
four  in  the  morning  that  the  kinsfolk  camp  upon  the 
grave;  and  these  are  the  hours  of  the  spirits'  wander- 
ings.    At  any  time  of  the  night  —  it  may  be  earlier,  it 

203 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

may  be  later  —  a  sound  is  to  be  heard  below,  which  is 
the  noise  of  his  liberation;  at  four  sharp,  another  and  a 
louder  marks  the  instant  of  the  re-imprisonment;  be- 
tween-whiles,  he  goes  his  malignant  rounds.  "Did 
you  ever  see  an  evil  spirit  ?"  was  once  asked  of  a  Pau- 
motuan.  "  Once."  "  Under  what  form  ?"  "It  was 
in  the  form  of  a  crane."  "  And  how  did  you  know  that 
crane  to  be  a  spirit?"  was  asked.  "I  will  tell  you," 
he  answered;  and  this  was  the  purport  of  his  inconclu- 
sive narrative.  His  fother  had  been  dead  nearly  a  fort- 
night; others  had  wearied  of  the  watch;  and  as  the  sun 
was  setting,  he  found  himself  by  the  grave  alone.  It 
was  not  yet  dark,  rather  the  hour  of  the  afterglow, 
when  he  was  aware  of  a  snow-white  crane  upon  the 
coral  mound ;  presently  more  cranes  came,  some  white, 
some  black;  then  the  cranes  vanished,  and  he  saw  in 
their  place  a  white  cat,  to  which  there  was  silently 
joined  a  great  company  of  cats  of  every  hue  conceiv- 
able; then  these  also  disappeared,  and  he  was  left 
astonished. 

This  was  an  anodyne  appearance.  Take  instead  the 
experience  of  Rua-a-mariterangi  on  the  isle  of  Katiu. 
He  had  a  need  for  some  pandanus,  and  crossed  the  isle 
to  the  sea-beach,  where  it  chiefly  flourishes.  The  day 
v/as  still,  and  Rua  was  surprised  to  hear  a  crashing 
sound  among  the  thickets,  and  then  the  fall  of  a  con- 
siderable tree.  Here  must  be  some  one  building  a 
canoe;  and  he  entered  the  margin  of  the  wood  to  find 
and  pass  the  time  of  day  with  this  chance  neighbour. 
The  crashing  sounded  more  at  hand;  and  then  he  was 
aware  of  something  drawing  swiftly  near  among  the 
tree-tops.     It  swung  by  its  heels  downward,  like  an 

204 


GRAVEYARD   STORIES 

ape,  so  that  its  hands  were  free  for  murder;  it  depended 
safely  by  the  slightest  twigs;  the  speed  of  its  coming 
was  incredible ;  and  soon  Rua  recognised  it  for  a  corpse, 
horrible  with  age,  its  bowels  hanging  as  it  came. 
Prayer  was  the  weapon  of  Christian  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Shadow,  and  it  is  to  prayer  that  Rua-a-mariterangi  at- 
tributes his  escape.  No  merely  human  expedition  had 
availed. 

This  demon  was  plainly  from  the  grave;  yet  you  will 
observe  he  was  abroad  by  day.  And  inconsistent  as  it 
may  seem  with  the  hours  of  the  night  watch  and  the 
many  references  to  the  rising  of  the  morning  star,  it  is 
no  singular  exception.  I  could  never  find  a  case  of 
another  who  had  seen  this  ghost,  diurnal  and  arboreal 
in  its  habits;  but  others  have  heard  the  fall  of  the  tree, 
which  seems  the  signal  of  its  coming.  Mr.  Donat  was 
once  pearling  on  the  uninhabited  isle  of  Haraiki.  It  was 
a  day  without  a  breath  of  wind,  such  as  alternate  in  the 
archipelago  with  days  of  contumelious  breezes.  The 
divers  were  in  the  midst  of  the  lagoon  upon  their  em- 
ployment; the  cook,  a  boy  often,  was  over  his  pots  in 
the  camp.  Thus  were  all  souls  accounted  for  except  a 
single  native  who  accompanied  Donat  into  the  woods 
in  quest  of  sea-fowls'  eggs.  In  a  moment,  out  of  the 
stillness,  came  the  sound  of  the  fall  of  a  great  tree. 
Donat  would  have  passed  on  to  find  the  cause.  "No," 
cried  his  companion,  "that  was  no  tree.  It  was  some- 
thing not  right.  Let  us  go  back  to  camp."  Next  Sun- 
day the  divers  were  turned  on,  all  that  part  of  the  isle 
was  thoroughly  examined,  and  sure  enough  no  tree  had 
fallen.  A  little  later  Mr.  Donat  saw  one  of  his  divers 
flee  from  a  similar  sound,  in  similar  unaffected  panic, 

205 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

on  the  same  isle.  But  neither  would  explain,  and  it 
was  not  till  afterwards,  when  he  met  with  Rua,  that  he 
learned  the  occasion  of  their  terrors. 

But  whether  by  day  or  night,  the  purpose  of  the 
dead  in  these  abhorred  activities  is  still  the  same.  In 
Samoa,  my  informant  had  no  idea  of  the  food  of  the 
bush  spirits;  no  such  ambiguity  would  exist  in  the 
mind  of  a  Paumotuan.  In  that  hungry  archipelago, 
living  and  dead  must  alike  toil  for  nutriment;  and  the 
race  having  been  cannibal  in  the  past,  the  spirits  are  so 
still.  When  the  living  ate  the  dead,  horrified  nocturnal 
imagination  drew  the  shocking  inference  that  the  dead 
might  eat  the  living.  Doubtless  they  slay  men,  doubt- 
less even  mutilate  them,  in  mere  malice.  Marquesan 
spirits  sometimes  tear  out  the  eyes  of  travellers;  but 
even  that  may  be  more  practical  than  appears,  for  the 
eye  is  a  cannibal  dainty.  And  certainly  the  root-idea 
of  the  dead,  at  least  in  the  far  eastern  islands,  is  to 
prowl  for  food.  It  was  as  a  dainty  morsel  for  a  meal 
that  the  woman  denounced  Donat  at  the  funeral.  There 
are  spirits  besides  who  prey  in  particular  not  on  the 
bodies  but  on  the  souls  of  the  dead.  The  point  is 
clearly  made  in  a  Tahitian  story.  A  child  fell  sick, 
grew  swiftly  worse,  and  at  last  showed  signs  of  death. 
The  mother  hastened  to  the  house  of  a  sorcerer,  who 
lived  hard  by.  "You  are  yet  in  time, "  said  he;  "a 
spirit  has  just  run  past  my  door  carrying  the  soul  of 
your  child  wrapped  in  the  leaf  of  a  purao;  but  1  have  a 
spirit  stronger  and  swifter  who  will  run  him  down  ere 
he  has  time  to  eat  it."  Wrapped  in  a  leaf:  like  other 
things  edible  and  corruptible. 

Or  take  an  experience  of  Mr.  Donat's  on  the  island 
206 


GRAVEYARD   STORIES 

of  Anaa.  It  was  a  night  of  a  high  wind,  with  violent 
squalls;  his  child  was  very  sick,  and  the  father,  though 
he  had  gone  to  bed,  lay  wakeful,  hearkening  to  the 
gale.  All  at  once  a  fowl  was  violently  dashed  on  the 
house  wall.  Supposing  he  had  forgot  to  put  it  in  shel- 
ter with  the  rest,  Donat  arose,  found  the  bird  (a  cock) 
lying  on  the  verandah,  and  put  it  in  the  hen-house,  the 
door  of  which  he  securely  fastened.  Fifteen  minutes 
later  the  business  was  repeated,  only  this  time,  as  it 
was  being  dashed  against  the  wall,  the  bird  crew. 
Again  Donat  replaced  it,  examining  the  hen-house 
thoroughly  and  finding  it  quite  perfect;  as  he  was  so 
engaged  the  wind  puffed  out  his  light,  and  he  must 
grope  back  to  the  door  a  good  deal  shaken.  Yet  a 
third  time  the  bird  was  dashed  upon  the  wall;  a  third 
time  Donat  set  it,  now  near  dead,  beside  its  mates;  and 
he  was  scarce  returned  before  there  came  a  rush,  like 
that  of  a  furious  strong  man,  against  the  door,  and  a 
whistle  as  loud  as  that  of  a  railway  engine  rang  about 
the  house.  The  sceptical  reader  may  here  detect  the 
finger  of  the  tempest;  but  the  women  gave  up  all  for 
lost  and  clustered  on  the  beds  lamenting.  Nothing 
followed,  and  I  must  suppose  the  gale  somewhat 
abated,  for  presently  after  a  chief  came  visiting.  He 
was  a  bold  man  to  be  abroad  so  late,  but  doubtless 
carried  a  bright  lantern.  And  he  was  certainly  a  man 
of  counsel,  for  as  soon  as  he  heard  the  details  of  these 
disturbances  he  was  in  a  position  to  explain  their  na- 
ture. "Your  child,"  said  he,  "must  certainly  die. 
This  is  the  evil  spirit  of  our  island  who  lies  in  wait  to 
eat  the  spirits  of  the  newly  dead."  And  then  he  went 
on  to  expatiate  on  the  strangeness  of  the  spirit's  con- 

207 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

duct.  He  was  not  usually,  he  explained,  so  open  of 
assault,  but  sat  silent  on  the  house-top  waiting,  in  the 
guise  of  a  bird,  while  within  the  people  tended  the 
dying  and  bewailed  the  dead,  and  had  no  thought  of 
peril.  But  when  the  day  came  and  the  doors  were 
opened  and  men  began  to  go  abroad,  blood-stains  on 
the  wall  betrayed  the  tragedy. 

This  is  the  quality  I  admire  in  Paumotuan  legend. 
In  Tahiti  the  spirit-eater  is  said  to  assume  a  vesture 
which  has  much  more  of  pomp,  but  how  much  less  of 
horror.  It  has  been  seen  by  all  sorts  and  conditions, 
native  and  foreign ;  only  the  last  insist  it  is  a  meteor. 
My  authority  was  not  so  sure.  He  was  riding  with 
his  wife  about  two  in  the  morning;  both  were  near 
asleep,  and  the  horses  not  much  better.  It  was  a  bril- 
liant and  still  night,  and  the  road  wound  over  a  moun- 
tain, near  by  a  deserted  marae  (old  Tahitian  temple). 
All  at  once  the  appearance  passed  above  them:  a  form 
of  light;  the  head  round  and  greenish;  the  body  long, 
red,  and  with  a  focus  of  yet  redder  brilliancy  about  the 
midst.  A  buzzing  hoot  accompanied  its  passage;  it 
flew  direct  out  of  one  marae,  and  direct  for  another 
down  the  mountain  side.  And  this,  as  my  informant 
argued,  is  suggestive.  For  why  should  a  mere  meteor 
frequent  the  altars  of  abominable  gods  ?  The  horses,  I 
should  say,  were  equally  dismayed  with  their  riders. 
Now  I  am  not  dismayed  at  all  —  not  even  agreeably. 
Give  me  rather  the  bird  upon  the  house-top  and  the 
morning  blood-gouts  on  the  wall. 

But  the  dead  are  not  exclusive  in  their  diet.  They 
carry  with  them  to  the  grave,  in  particular,  the  Poly- 
nesian taste  for  fish,  and  enter  at  times  with  the  living 

208 


GRAVEYARD   STORIES 

into  a  partnership  in  fishery.  Rua-a-mariterangi  is 
again  my  authority;  1  feel  it  diminishes  the  credit  of 
the  fact,  but  how  it  builds  up  the  image  of  this  invet- 
erate ghost-seer!  He  belongs  to  the  miserably  poor 
inland  of  Taenga,  yet  his  father's  house  was  always 
well  supplied.  As  Rua  grew  up  he  was  called  at  last 
to  go  a-fishing  with  this  fortunate  parent.  They  rowed 
into  the  lagoon  at  dusk,  to  an  unlikely  place,  and  the 
boy  lay  down  in  the  stern,  and  the  father  began  vainly 
to  cast  his  line  over  the  bows.  It  is  to  be  supposed 
that  Rua  slept;  and  when  he  awoke  there  was  the 
figure  of  another  beside  his  f;ither,  and  his  father  was 
pulling  in  the  fish  hand  over  hand.  "Who  is  that 
man,  father.^"  Rua  asked.  "It  is  none  of  your  busi- 
ness," said  the  father;  and  Rua  supposed  the  stranger 
had  swum  off  to  them  from  shore.  Night  after  night 
they  fared  into  the  lagoon,  often  to  the  most  unlikely 
places;  night  after  night  the  stranger  would  suddenly 
be  seen  on  board,  and  as  suddenly  be  missed;  and 
morning  after  morning  the  canoe  returned  laden  with 
fish.  "My  filther  is  a  very  lucky  man,"  thought  Rua. 
At  last,  one  fine  day,  there  came  first  one  boat  party 
and  then  another,  who  must  be  entertained;  father  and 
son  put  off  later  than  usual  into  the  lagoon ;  and  before 
the  canoe  was  landed  it  was  four  o'clock,  and  the 
morning  star  was  close  on  the  horizon.  Then  the 
stranger  appeared  seized  with  some  distress;  turned 
about,  showing  for  the  first  time  his  face,  which  was 
that  of  one  long  dead,  with  shining  eyes;  stared  into 
the  east,  set  the  tips  of  his  fingers  to  his  mouth  like  one 
a-cold,  uttered  a  strange,  shuddering  sound  between  a 
whistle  and  a  moan— a  thing  to  freeze  the  blood;  and, 

209 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

the  day-star  just  rising  from  the  sea,  he  suddenly  was 
not.  Then  Rua  understood  why  his  father  prospered, 
why  his  fishes  rotted  early  in  the  day,  and  why  some 
were  always  carried  to  the  cemetery  and  laid  upon  the 
graves.  My  informant  is  a  man  not  certainly  averse  to 
superstition,  but  he  keeps  his  head,  and  takes  a  certain 
superior  interest,  which  I  may  be  allowed  to  call  scien- 
tific. The  last  point  reminding  him  of  some  parallel 
practice  in  Tahiti,  he  asked  Rua  if  the  fish  were  left,  or 
carried  home  again  after  a  formal  dedication.  It  appears 
old  Mariterangi  practised  both  methods;  sometimes 
treating  his  shadowy  partner  to  a  mere  oblation,  some- 
times honestly  leaving  his  fish  to  rot  upon  the  grave. 

It  is  plain  we  have  in  Europe  stories  of  a  similar 
complexion;  and  the  Polynesian  I'lirua  iuo  or  aitii  o  le 
rao  is  clearly  the  near  kinsman  of  the  Transylvanian 
vampire.  Here  is  a  tale  in  which  the  kinship  appears 
broadly  marked.  On  the  atoll  of  Penrhyn,  then  still 
partly  savage,  a  certain  chief  was  long  the  salutary  ter- 
ror of  the  natives.  He  died,  he  was  buried;  and  his 
late  neighbors  had  scarce  tasted  the  delights  of  licence 
ere  his  ghost  appeared  about  the  village.  Fear  seized 
upon  all;  a  council  was  held  of  the  chief  men  and  sor- 
cerers; and  with  the  approval  of  the  Rarotongan  mis- 
sionary, who  was  as  frightened  as  the  rest,  and  in  the 
presence  of  several  whites  —  my  friend  Mr.  Ben  Hird 
being  one  —  the  grave  was  opened,  deepened  until 
water  came,  and  the  body  re-interred  face  down.  The 
still  recent  staking  of  suicides  in  England  and  the  de- 
capitation of  vampires  in  the  east  of  Europe  form  close 
parallels. 

So  in  Samoa  only  the  spirits  of  the  unburied  awake 

*  310 


GRAVEYARD   STORIES 

fear.  During  the  late  war  many  fell  in  the  bush ;  their 
bodies,  sometimes  headless,  were  brought  back  by  na- 
tive pastors  and  interred ;  but  this  (I  know  not  why) 
was  insufficient,  and  the  spirit  still  lingered  on  the  the- 
atre of  death.  When  peace  returned  a  singular  scene 
was  enacted  in  many  places,  and  chiefly  round  the 
high  gorges  of  Lotoanuu,  where  the  struggle  was  long 
centred  and  the  loss  had  been  severe.  Kinswomen  of 
the  dead  came  carrying  a  mat  or  sheet  and  guided  by 
survivors  of  the  fight.  The  place  of  death  was  earn- 
estly sought  out;  the  sheet  was  spread  upon  the 
ground;  and  the  women,  moved  with  pious  anxiety, 
sat  about  and  watched  it.  If  any  living  thing  alighted 
it  was  twice  brushed  away;  upon  the  third  coming  it 
was  known  to  be  the  spirit  of  the  dead,  was  folded  in, 
carried  home  and  buried  beside  the  body;  and  the  aitu 
rested.  The  rite  was  practised  beyond  doubt  in  sim- 
ple piety;  the  repose  of  the  soul  was  its  object:  its  mo- 
tive, reverent  affection.  The  present  king  disowns 
indeed  all  knowledge  of  a  dangerous  aitu;  he  declares 
the  souls  of  the  unburied  were  only  wanderers  in  limbo, 
lacking  an  entrance  to  the  proper  country  of  the  dead, 
unhappy,  nowise  hurtful.  And  this  severely  classic 
opinion  doubtless  represents  the  views  of  the  enlight- 
ened. But  the  flight  of  my  Lafaele  marks  the  grosser 
terrors  of  the  ignorant. 

This  belief  in  the  exorcising  efficacy  of  funeral  rites 
perhaps  explains  a  fact,  otherwise  amazing,  that  no 
Polynesian  seems  at  all  to  share  our  European  horror 
of  human  bones  and  mummies.  Of  the  first  they  made 
their  cherished  ornaments;  they  preserved  them  in 
houses  or  in  mortuary  caves;  and  the  watchers  of  royal 


THt   SOUTH    SEAS 

sepulchres  dwelt  with  their  children  among  the  bones 
of  generations.  The  mummy,  even  in  the  making,  was 
as  little  feared.  In  the  Marquesas,  on  the  extreme 
east,  it  was  made  by  the  household  with  continual 
unction  and  exposure  to  the  sun;  in  the  Carolines, 
upon  the  farthest  west,  it  is  still  cured  in  the  smoke  of 
the  family  hearth.  Head-hunting,  besides,  still  lives 
around  my  doorstep  in  Samoa.  And  not  ten  years  ago, 
in  the  Gilberts,  the  widow  must  disinter,  cleanse,  pol- 
ish, and  thenceforth  carry  about  her,  by  day  and  night, 
the  head  of  her  dead  husband.  In  all  these  cases  we 
may  suppose  the  process,  whether  of  cleansing  or  dry- 
ing, to  have  fully  exorcised  the  aitu. 

But  the  Paumotuan  belief  is  more  obscure.  Here 
the  man  is  duly  buried,  and  he  has  to  be  watched. 
He  is  duly  watched,  and  the  spirit  goes  abroad  in  spite 
of  watches.  Indeed,  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  the  vigils 
to  prevent  these  wanderings;  only  to  mollify  by  polite 
attention  the  inveterate  malignity  of  the  dead.  Neglect 
(it  is  supposed)  may  irritate  and  thus  invite  his  visits, 
and  the  aged  and  weakly  sometimes  balance  risks  and 
stay  at  home.  Observe,  it  is  the  dead  man's  kindred 
and  next  friends  who  thus  deprecate  his  fury  with  noc- 
turnal watchings.  Even  the  placatory  vigil  is  held  per- 
ilous, except  in  company,  and  a  boy  was  pointed  out 
to  me  in  Rotoava,  because  he  had  watched  alone  by 
his  own  father.  Not  the  ties  of  the  dead,  nor  yet  their 
proved  character,  affect  the  issue.  A  late  Resident, 
who  died  in  Fakarava  of  sunstroke,  was  beloved  in 
life,  and  is  still  remembered  with  affection;  none  the 
less  his  spirit  went  about  the  island  clothed  with  ter- 
rors, and  the  neighbourhood  of  Government  House  was 


GRAVEYARD   STORIES 

still  avoided  after  dark.  We  may  sum  up  the  cheerful 
doctrine  thus:  All  men  become  vampires,  and  the  vam- 
pire spares  none.  And  here  we  come  face  to  face  with 
a  tempting  inconsistency.  For  the  whistling  spirits 
are  notoriously  clannish;  1  understood  them  to  wait 
upon  and  to  enlighten  kinsfolk  only,  and  that  the  me- 
dium was  always  of  the  race  of  the  communicating 
spirit.  Here,  then,  we  have  the  bonds  of  the  family, 
on  the  one  hand,  severed  at  the  hour  of  death;  on  the 
other,  helpfully  persisting. 

The  child's  soul  in  the  Tahitian  tale  was  wrapped  in 
leaves.  It  is  the  spirits  of  the  newly  dead  that  are  the 
dainty.  When  they  are  slain,  the  house  is  stained  with 
blood.  Rua's  dead  fisherman  was  decomposed;  so  — 
and  horribly — was  his  arboreal  demon.  The  spirit, 
then,  is  a  thing  material;  and  it  is  by  the  material  en- 
signs of  corruption  that  he  is  distinguished  from  the 
living  man.  This  opinion  is  widespread,  adds  a  gross 
terror  to  the  more  ugly  Polynesian  tales,  and  sometimes 
defaces  the  more  engaging  with  a  painful  and  incon- 
gruous touch.  I  will  give  two  examples  sufficiently 
wide  apart,  one  from  Tahiti,  one  from  Samoa. 

And  first  from  Tahiti.  A  man  went  to  visit  the  hus- 
band of  his  sister,  then  some  time  dead.  In  her  life  the 
sister  had  been  dainty  in  the  island  fashion,  and  went 
always  adorned  with  a  coronet  of  flowers.  In  the  midst 
of  the  night  the  brother  awoke  and  was  aware  of  a 
heavenly  fragrance  going  to  and  fro  in  the  dark  house. 
The  lamp  1  must  suppose  to  have  burned  out;  no  Tahi- 
tian would  have  lain  down  without  one  lighted.  A 
while  he  lay  wondering  and  delighted;  then  called  upon 
the  rest.     "Do  none  of  you  smell  flowers.'*"  he  asked. 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

"O,"  said  his  brother-in-law,  "we  are  used  to  that 
here."  The  next  morning  these  two  men  went  walk- 
ing, and  the  widower  confessed  that  his  dead  wife  came 
about  the  house  continually,  and  that  he  had  even  seen 
her.  She  was  shaped  and  dressed  and  crowned  with 
flowers  as  in  her  lifetime;  only  she  moved  a  few  inches 
above  the  earth  with  a  very  easy  progress,  and  flitted 
dry-shod  above  the  surface  of  the  river.  And  now 
comes  my  point:  it  was  always  in  a  back  view  that 
she  appeared;  and  these  brothers-in-law,  debating  the 
affair,  agreed  that  this  was  to  conceal  the  inroads  of 
corruption. 

Now  for  the  Samoan  story.  I  owe  it  to  the  kindness 
of  Dr.  F.  Otto  Sierich,  whose  collection  of  folk-tales  1 
expect  with  a  high  degree  of  interest.  A  man  in  Manu'a 
was  married  to  two  wives  and  had  no  issue.  He  went 
to  Savaii,  married  there  a  third,  and  was  more  fortunate. 
When  his  wife  was  near  her  time  he  remembered  he 
was  in  a  strange  island,  like  a  poor  man;  and  when  his 
child  was  born  he  must  be  shamed  for  lack  of  gifts. 
It  was  in  vain  his  wife  dissuaded  him.  He  returned  to 
his  father  in  Manu'a  seeking  help;  and  with  what  he 
could  get  he  set  off  in  the  night  to  re-embark.  Now  his 
wives  heard  of  his  coming;  they  were  incensed  he  did 
not  stay  to  visit  them ;  and  on  the  beach,  by  his  canoe, 
intercepted  and  slew  him.  Now  the  third  wife  lay 
asleep  in  Savaii;  her  babe  was  born  and  slept  by  her 
side;  and  she  was  awakened  by  the  spirit  of  her  hus- 
band. "  Get  up,"  he  said,  "  my  father  is  sick  in  Manu'a 
and  we  must  go  to  visit  him."  ''It  is  well,"  said  she; 
"  take  you  the  child,  while  I  carry  its  mats."  "1  can- 
not carry  the  child,"  said  the  spirit;  "I  am  too  cold 

214 


GRAVEYARD   STORIES 

from  the  sen,"  When  they  were  got  on  board  the  canoe 
the  wife  smelt  carrion.  "How  is  this?"  she  said. 
"  What  have  you  in  the  canoe  that  I  should  smell  car- 
rion.^" "It  is  nothing  in  the  canoe,"  said  the  spirit. 
"It  is  the  land-wind  blowing  down  the  mountains, 
where  some  beast  lies  dead."  It  appears  it  was  still 
nighi  when  they  reached  Manu'a  —  the  swiftest  passage 
on  record  —  and  as  they  entered  the  reef  the  bale-fires 
burned  in  the  village.  Again  she  asked  him  to  carry 
the  child;  but  now  he  need  no  more  dissemble.  "I 
cannot  carry  your  child,"  said  he,  "for  I  am  dead,  and 
the  fires  you  see  are  burning  for  my  funeral." 

The  curious  may  learn  in  Dr.  Sierich's  book  the  un- 
expected sequel  of  the  tale.  Here  is  enough  for  my 
purpose.  Though  the  man  was  but  new  dead,  the 
ghost  was  already  putrefied,  as  though  putrefaction 
were  the  mark  and  of  the  essence  of  a  spirit.  The  vigil 
on  the  Paumotuan  grave  does  not  extend  beyond  two 
weeks,  and  they  told  me  this  period  was  thought  to 
coincide  with  that  of  the  resolution  of  the  body.  The 
ghost  always  marked  with  decay  —  the  danger  seem- 
ingly ending  with  the  process  of  dissolution  —  here  is 
tempting  matter  for  the  theorist.  But  it  will  not  do. 
The  lady  of  the  flowers  had  been  long  dead,  and  her 
spirit  was  still  supposed  to  bear  the  brand  of  perish- 
ability. The  Resident  had  been  more  than  a  fortnight 
buried,  and  his  vampire  was  still  supposed  to  go  the 
rounds. 

Of  the  lost  state  of  the  dead,  from  the  lurid  Mangaian 
legend,  in  which  infernal  deities  hocus  and  destroy  the 
souls  of  all.  to  the  various  submarine  and  aerial  limbos 
where  the  dead  feast,  float  idle,  or  resume  the  occupa- 

215 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

tions  of  their  life  on  earth,  it  would  be  wearisome  to 
tell.  One  story  1  give,  for  it  is  singular  in  itself,  is  well 
known  in  Tahiti,  and  has  this  of  interest,  that  it  is  post- 
Christian,  dating  indeed  from  but  a  few  years  back.  A 
princess  of  the  reigning  house  died;  was  transported 
to  the  neighbouring  isle  of  Raiatea;  fell  there  under  the 
empire  of  a  spirit  who  condemned  her  to  climb  coco- 
palms  all  day  and  bring  him  the  nuts;  was  found  after 
some  time  in  this  miserable  servitude  by  a  second  spirit, 
one  of  her  own  house;  and  by  him,  upon  her  lamenta- 
tions, reconveyed  to  Tahiti,  where  she  found  her  body 
still  waked,  but  already  swollen  with  the  approaches  of 
corruption.  It  is  a  lively  point  in  the  tale  that,  on  the 
sight  of  this  dishonoured  tabernacle,  the  princess  prayed 
she  might  continue  to  be  numbered  with  the  dead.  But 
it  seems  it  was  too  late,  her  spirit  was  replaced  by  the 
least  dignified  of  entrances,  and  her  startled  family  be- 
held the  body  move.  The  seemingly  purgatorial  la- 
bours, the  helpful  kindred  spirit,  and  the  horror  of  the 
princess  at  the  sight  of  her  tainted  body,  are  all  points 
to  be  remarked. 

The  truth  is,  the  tales  are  not  necessarily  consistent 
in  themselves;  and  they  are  further  darkened  for  the 
stranger  by  an  ambiguity  of  language.  Ghosts,  vam- 
pires, spirits,  and  gods  are  all  confounded.  And  yet  I 
seem  to  perceive  that  (with  exceptions)  those  whom  we 
would  count  gods  were  less  maleficent.  Permanent 
spirits  haunt  and  do  murder  in  corners  of  Samoa;  but 
those  legitimate  gods  of  Upolu  and  Savaii,  whose  wars 
and  cricketings  of  late  convulsed  society,  I  did  not 
gather  to  be  dreaded,  or  not  with  a  like  fear.  The  spirit 
of  Anaa  that  ate  souls  is  certainly  a  fearsome  inmate; 

216 


GRAVEYARD   STORIES 

but  the  high  gods,  even  of  the  archipelago,  seem  help- 
ful. Mahinui — from  whom  our  convict-catechist  had 
been  named  —  the  spirit  of  the  sea,  like  a  Proteus  en- 
dowed with  endless  avatars,  came  to  the  assistance  of 
the  shipwrecked  and  carried  them  ashore  in  the  guise 
of  a  ray-fish.  The  same  divinity  bore  priests  from  isle 
to  isle  about  the  archipelago,  and  by  his  aid,  within  the 
century,  persons  have  been  seen  to  fly.  The  tutelar 
deity  of  each  isle  is  likewise  helpful,  and  by  a  particular 
form  of  wedge-shaped  cloud  on  the  horizon  announces 
the  coming  of  a  ship. 

To  one  who  conceives  of  these  atolls,  so  narrow,  so 
barren,  so  beset  with  sea,  here  would  seem  a  superfluity 
of  ghostly  denizens.  And  yet  there  are  more.  In  the 
various  brackish  pools  and  ponds,  beautiful  women 
with  long  red  hair  are  seen  to  rise  and  bathe;  only 
(timid  as  mice)  on  the  first  sound  of  feet  upon  the  coral 
they  dive  again  for  ever.  They  are  known  to  be  healthy 
and  harmless  living  people,  dwellers  of  an  underworld; 
and  the  same  fancy  is  current  in  Tahiti,  where  also  they 
have  the  hair  red.  Tetea  is  the  Tahitian  name;  the 
Paumotuan,  Mokurea. 


217 


PART  III :  THE  GILBERTS 


CHAPTER   I 


BUTARITARI 


AT  Honolulu  we  had  said  farewell  to  the  Casco  and 
i\  to  Captain  Otis,  and  our  next  adventure  was  made 
in  changed  conditions.  Passage  was  taken  for  myself, 
my  wife,  Mr.  Osbourne,  and  my  China  boy,  Ah  Fu, 
on  a  pigmy  trading  schooner,  the  Equator,  Captain 
Dennis  Reid;  and  on  a  certain  bright  June  day  in  1889, 
adorned  in  the  Hawaiian  fashion  with  the  garlands  of 
departure,  we  drew  out  of  port  and  bore  with  a  fair 
wind  for  Micronesia. 

The  whole  extent  of  the  South  Seas  is  desert  of  ships; 
more  especially  that  part  where  we  were  now  to  sail. 
No  post  runs  in  these  islands;  communication  is  by  ac- 
cident; where  you  may  have  designed  to  go  is  one 
thing,  where  you  shall  be  able  to  arrive  another.  It 
was  my  hope,  for  instance,  to  have  reached  the  Caro- 
lines, and  returned  to  the  light  of  day  by  way  of  Manila 
and  the  China  ports;  and  it  was  in  Samoa  that  we  were 
destined  to  re-appear  and  be  once  more  refreshed  with 
the  sight  of  mountains.  Since  the  sunset  faded  from 
the  peaks  of  Oahu  six  months  had  intervened,  and  we 
had  seen  no  spot  of  earth  so  high  as  an  ordinary  cot- 
tage. Our  path  had  been  still  on  the  flat  sea,  our  dwell- 
ings upon  unerected  coral,  our  diet  from  the  pickle-tub 
or  out  of  tins;  1  had  learned  to  welcome  shark's  flesh 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

for  a  variety;  and  a  mountain,  an  onion,  an  Irish  potato 
or  a  beef-steak,  iiad  been  long  lost  to  sense  and  dear  to 
aspiration. 

The  two  chief  places  of  our  stay,  Butaritari  and  Ape- 
mama,  lie  near  the  line;  the  latter  within  thirty  miles. 
Both  enjoy  a  superb  ocean  climate,  days  of  blinding  sun 
and  bracing  wind,  nights  of  a  heavenly  brightness. 
Both  are  somewhat  wider  than  Fakarava,  measuring 
perhaps  (at  the  widest)  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  beach 
to  beach.  In  both,  a  coarse  kind  of  /jro  thrives;  its 
culture  is  a  chief  business  of  the  natives,  and  the  conse- 
quent mounds  and  ditches  make  miniature  scenery  and 
amuse  the  eye.  In  all  else  they  show  the  customary 
features  of  an  atoll;  the  low  horizon,  the  expanse  of 
the  lagoon,  the  sedge-like  rim  of  palm-tops,  the  same- 
ness andsmallness  of  the  land,  the  hugely  superior  size 
and  interest  of  sea  and  sky.  Life  on  such  islands  is  in 
many  points  like  life  on  shipboard.  The  atoll,  like  the 
ship,  is  soon  taken  for  granted;  and  the  islanders,  like 
the  ship's  crew,  become  soon  the  centre  of  attention. 
The  isles  are  populous,  independent,  seats  of  kinglets, 
recently  civilized,  little  visited.  In  the  last  decade  many 
changes  have  crept  in;  women  no  longer  go  unclothed 
till  marriage;  the  widow  no  longer  sleeps  at  night  and 
goes  abroad  by  day  with  the  skull  of  her  dead  husband ; 
and,  fire-arms  being  introduced,  the  spear  and  the  shark- 
tooth  sword  are  sold  for  curiosities.  Ten  years  ago  all 
these  things  and  practices  were  to  be  seen  in  use;  yet 
ten  years  more,  and  the  old  society  will  have  entirely 
vanished.  We  came  in  a  happy  moment  to  see  its  in- 
stitutions still  erect  and  (in  Apemama)  scarce  decayed. 

Populous  and  independent  —  warrens  of  men,  ruled 


BUTARITARI 

over  with  some  rustic  pomp  —  such  was  the  first  and 
still  the  recurring  impression  of  these  tiny  lands.  As 
we  stood  across  the  lagoon  for  the  town  of  Butaritari, 
a  stretch  of  the  low  shore  was  seen  to  be  crowded  with 
the  brown  roofs  of  houses;  those  of  the  palace  and 
king's  summer  parlour  (which  are  of  corrugated  iron) 
glittered  near  one  end  conspicuously  bright;  the  royal 
colours  flew  hard  by  on  a  tall  flagstaff;  in  front,  on  an 
artificial  islet,  the  gaol  played  the  part  of  a  martello. 
Even  upon  this  first  and  distant  view,  the  place  had 
scarce  the  air  of  what  it  truly  was,  a  village ;  rather  of 
that  which  it  was  also,  a  petty  metropolis,  a  city  rustic 
and  yet  royal. 

The  lagoon  is  shoal.  The  tide  being  out,  we  waded 
for  some  quarter  of  a  mile  in  tepid  shallows,  and 
stepped  ashore  at  last  into  a  flagrant  stagnancy  of  sun 
and  heat.  The  lee  side  of  a  line  island  after  noon  is 
indeed  a  breathless  place;  on  the  ocean  beach  the  trade 
will  be  still  blowing,  boisterous  and  cool;  out  in  the 
lagoon  it  will  be  blowing  also,  speeding  the  canoes; 
but  the  screen  of  bush  completely  intercepts  it  from 
the  shore,  and  sleep  and  silence  and  companies  of 
mosquitoes  brood  upon  the  towns. 

We  may  thus  be  said  to  have  taken  Butaritari  by 
surprise.  A  few  inhabitants  were  still  abroad  in  the 
north  end,  at  which  we  landed.  As  we  advanced,  we 
were  soon  done  with  encounter,  and  seemed  to  ex- 
plore a  city  of  the  dead.  Only,  between  the  posts  of 
open  houses,  we  could  see  the  townsfolk  stretched  in 
the  siesta,  sometimes  a  family  together  veiled  in  a  mo- 
squito net,  sometimes  a  single  sleeper  on  a  platform 
like  a  corpse  on  a  bier. 

223 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

The  houses  were  of  all  dimensions,  from  those  of 
toys  to  those  of  churches.  Some  might  hold  a  battal- 
ion, some  were  so  minute  they  could  scarce  receive  a 
pair  of  lovers;  only  in  the  playroom,  when  the  toys  are 
mingled,  do  we  meet  such  incongruities  of  scale.  Many 
were  open  sheds;  some  took  the  form  of  roofed  stages; 
others  were  walled  and  the  walls  pierced  with  little 
windows.  A  few  were  perched  on  piles  in  the  lagoon; 
the  rest  stood  at  random  on  a  green,  through  which 
the  roadway  made  a  ribbon  of  sand,  or  along  the  em- 
bankments of  a  sheet  of  water  like  a  shallow  dock. 
One  and  all  were  the  creatures  of  a  single  tree;  palm- 
tree  wood  and  palm-tree  leaf  their  materials;  no  nail 
had  been  driven,  no  hammer  sounded,  in  their  build- 
ing, and  they  were  held  together  by  lashings  of  palm- 
tree  sinnet. 

In  the  midst  of  the  thoroughfare,  the  church  stands 
like  an  island,  a  lofty  and  dim  house  with  rows  of  win- 
dows; a  rich  tracery  of  framing  sustains  the  roof;  and 
through  the  door  at  either  end  the  street  shows  in  a 
vista.  The  proportions  of  the  place,  in  such  surround- 
ings, and  built  of  such  materials,  appeared  august;  and 
we  threaded  the  nave  with  a  sentiment  befitting  vis- 
itors in  a  cathedral.  Benches  run  along  either  side. 
In  the  midst,  on  a  crazy  dais,  two  chairs  stand  ready 
for  the  king  and  queen  when  they  shall  choose  to  wor- 
ship; over  their  heads  a  hoop,  apparently  from  a  hogs- 
head, depends  by  a  strip  of  red  cotton;  and  the  hoop 
(which  hangs  askew)  is  dressed  with  streamers  of  the 
same  material,  red  and  white. 

This  was  our  first  advertisement  of  the  royal  dignity, 
and  presently  we  stood  before  its  seat  and  centre.    The 

224 


BUTARITARI 

palace  is  built  of  imported  wood  upon  a  European  plan; 
the  roof  of  corrugated  iron,  the  yard  enclosed  with 
walls,  the  gate  surmounted  by  a  sort  of  lych-house. 
It  cannot  be  called  spacious;  a  labourer  in  the  States  is 
sometimes  more  commodiously  lodged;  but  when  we 
had  the  chance  to  see  it  within,  we  found  it  was  en- 
riched (beyond  all  island  expectation)  with  coloured 
advertisements  and  cuts  from  the  illustrated  papers. 
Even  before  the  gate  some  of  the  treasures  of  the  crown 
stand  public:  a  bell  of  a  good  magnitude,  two  pieces 
of  cannon,  and  a  single  shell.  The  bell  cannot  be  rung 
nor  the  guns  fired;  they  are  curiosities,  proofs  of 
wealth,  a  part  of  the  parade  of  the  royalty,  and  stand 
to  be  admired  like  statues  in  a  square.  A  straight  gut 
of  water  like  a  canal  runs  almost  to  the  palace  door; 
the  containing  quay-walls  excellently  built  of  coral; 
over  against  the  mouth,  by  what  seems  an  effect  of 
landscape  art,  the  martello-like  islet  of  the  gaol  breaks 
the  lagoon.  Vassal  chiefs  with  tribute,  neighbour 
monarchs  come  a-roving,  might  here  sail  in,  view  with 
surprise  these  extensive  public  works,  and  be  awed  by 
these  mouths  of  silent  cannon.  It  was  impossible  to 
see  the  place  and  not  to  fancy  it  designed  for  pagean- 
try. But  the  elaborate  theatre  then  stood  empty;  the 
royal  house  deserted,  its  doors  and  windows  gaping; 
the  whole  quarter  of  the  town  immersed  in  silence. 
On  the  opposite  bank  of  the  canal,  on  a  roofed  stage, 
an  ancient  gentleman  slept  publicly,  sole  visible  inhabi- 
tant; and  beyond  on  the  lagoon  a  canoe  spread  a  striped 
lateen,  the  sole  thing  moving. 

The  canal  is  formed  on  the  south  by  a  pier  or  cause- 
way with  a  parapet.     At  the  far  end  the  parapet  stops, 

22S 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

and  the  quay  expands  into  an  oblong  peninsula  in  the 
lagoon,  the  breathing-place  and  summer  parlour  of  the 
king.  The  midst  is  occupied  by  an  open  house  or  per- 
manent marquee  —  called  here  a  maniapa,  or,  as  the 
word  is  now  pronounced,  a  maniap'  —  at  the  lowest 
estimation  forty  feet  by  sixty.  The  iron  roof,  lofty  but 
exceedingly  low-browed,  so  that  a  woman  must  stoop 
to  enter,  is  supported  externally  on  pillars  of  coral, 
within  by  a  frame  of  wood.  The  floor  is  of  broken 
coral,  divided  in  aisles  by  the  uprights  of  the  frame;  the 
house  far  enough  from  shore  to  catch  the  breeze,  which 
enters  freely  and  disperses  the  mosquitoes;  and  under 
the  low  eaves  the  sun  is  seen  to  glitter  and  the  waves  to 
dance  on  the  lagoon. 

It  was  now  some  while  since  we  had  met  any  but 
slumberers;  and  when  we  had  wandered  down  the 
pier  and  stumbled  at  last  into  this  bright  shed,  we  were 
surprised  to  find  it  occupied  by  a  society  of  wakeful 
people,  some  twenty  souls  in  all,  the  court  and  guards- 
men of  Butaritari.  The  court  ladies  were  busy  making 
mats;  the  guardsmen  yawned  and  sprawled.  Half  a 
dozen  rifles  lay  on  a  rock  and  a  cutlass  was  leaned 
against  a  pillar:  the  armoury  of  these  drowsy  musket- 
eers. At  the  Hir  end,  a  little  closed  house  of  wood 
displayed  some  tinsel  curtains,  and  proved,  upon  exam- 
ination, to  be  a  privy  on  the  European  model.  In 
front  of  this,  upon  some  mats,  lolled  Tebureimoa,  the 
king;  behind  him,  on  the  panels  of  the  house,  two 
crossed  rifles  represented  fasces.  He  wore  pyjamas 
which  sorrowfully  misbecame  his  bulk;  his  nose  was 
hooked  and  cruel,  his  body  overcome  with  sodden  cor- 
pulence, his  eye  timorous  and  dull;  he  seemed  at  once 

226 


BUTARITARI 

oppressed  with  drowsiness  and  held  awake  by  appre- 
hension: a  pepper  rajah  muddled  with  opium,  and  lis- 
tening for  the  march  of  a  Dutch  army,  looks  perhaps 
not  otherwise.  We  were  to  grow  better  acquainted, 
and  first  and  last  I  had  the  same  impression ;  he  seemed 
always  drowsy,  yet  always  to  hearken  and  start;  and, 
whether  from  remorse  or  fear,  there  is  no  doubt  he 
seeks  a  refuge  in  the  abuse  of  drugs. 

The  rajah  displayed  no  sign  of  interest  in  our  coming. 
But  the  queen,  who  sat  beside  him  in  a  purple  sacque, 
was  more  accessible;  and  there  was  present  an  inter- 
preter so  willing  that  his  volubility  became  at  last  the 
cause  of  our  departure.  He  had  greeted  us  upon  our 
entrance:  —  "That  is  the  honourable  King,  and  I  am 
his  interpreter,"  he  had  said,  with  more  stateliness  than 
truth.  For  he  held  no  appointment  in  the  court,  seemed 
extremely  ill-acquainted  with  the  island  language,  and 
was  present,  like  ourselves,  upon  a  visit  of  civility.  Mr. 
Williams  was  his  name:  an  American  darkey,  runaway 
ship's  cook,  and  bar-keeper  at  The  Land  zee  Live  in 
tavern,  Butaritari.  I  never  knew  a  man  who  had  more 
words  in  his  command  or  less  truth  to  communicate; 
neither  the  gloom  of  the  monarch,  nor  my  own  efforts 
to  be  distant,  could  in  the  least  abash  him ;  and  when 
the  scene  closed,  the  darkey  was  left  talking. 

The  town  still  slumbered,  or  had  but  just  begun  to 
turn  and  stretch  itself;  it  was  still  plunged  in  heat  and 
silence.  So  much  the  more  vivid  was  the  impression 
that  we  carried  away  of  the  house  upon  the  islet,  the 
Micronesian  Saul  wakeful  amid  his  guards,  and  his  un- 
melodious  David,  Mr.  Williams,  chattering  through  the 
drowsy  hours. 

227 


CHAPTER   II 

THE   FOUR    BROTHERS 

The  kingdom  of  Tebureimoa  includes  two  islands, 
Great  and  Little  Makin ;  some  two  thousand  subjects  pay 
him  tribute,  and  two  semi-independent  chieftains  do 
him  qualified  homage.  The  importance  of  the  office  is 
measured  by  the  man ;  he  may  be  a  nobody,  he  may 
be  absolute;  and  both  extremes  have  been  exemplified 
within  the  memory  of  residents. 

On  the  death  of  King  Tetimararoa,  Tebureimoa's 
father,  Nakaeia,  the  eldest  son,  succeeded.  )-Ie  was 
a  fellow  of  huge  physical  strength,  masterful,  violent, 
with  a  certain  barbaric  thrift  and  some  intelligence  of 
men  and  business.  Alone  in  his  islands,  it  was  he  who 
dealt  and  profited;  he  was  the  planter  and  the  merchant; 
and  his  subjects  toiled  for  his  behoof  in  servitude. 
When  they  wrought  long  and  well  their  taskmaker  de- 
clared a  holiday,  and  supplied  and  shared  a  general  de- 
bauch. The  scale  of  his  providing  was  at  times  magni- 
ficent: six  hundred  dollars'  worth  of  gin  and  brandy  was 
set  forth  at  once;  the  narrow  land  resounded  with  the 
noise  of  revelry;  and  it  was  a  common  thing  to  see  the 
subjects  (staggering  themselves)  parade  their  drunken 
sovereign  on  the  forehatch  of  a  wrecked  vessel,  king 
and  commons  howling  and  singing  as  they  went.     At 

228 


THE    FOUR    BROTHERS 

a  word  from  Nakaeia's  mouth  the  revel  ended;  Makin 
became  once  more  an  isle  of  slaves  and  of  teetotalers; 
and  on  the  morrow^  all  the  population  must  be  on  the 
roads  or  in  the  taro-patches  toiling  under  his  blood-shot 
eye. 

The  fear  of  Nakaeia  filled  the  land.  No  regularity  of 
justice  was  affected ;  there  was  no  trial,  there  were  no 
officers  of  the  law;  it  seems  there  was  but  one  penalty, 
the  capital;  and  daylight  assault  and  midnight  murder 
were  the  forms  of  process.  The  king  himself  would 
play  the  executioner;  and  his  blows  were  dealt  by  stealth, 
and  with  the  help  and  countenance  of  none  but  his  own 
wives.  These  were  his  oarswomen;  one  that  caught  a 
crab,  he  slew  incontinently  with  the  tiller;  thus  disci- 
plined, they  pulled  him  by  night  to  the  scene  of  his 
vengeance,  which  he  would  then  execute  alone  and  re- 
turn well-pleased  with  his  connubial  crew.  The  inmates 
of  the  harem  held  a  station  hard  for  us  to  conceive. 
Beasts  of  draught,  and  driven  by  the  fear  of  death,  they 
were  yet  implicitly  trusted  with  their  sovereign's  life; 
they  were  still  wives  and  queens,  and  it  was  supposed 
that  no  man  should  behold  their  faces.  They  killed  by 
the  sight  like  basilisks;  a  chance  view  of  one  of  those 
boatwomen  was  a  crime  to  be  wiped  out  with  blood. 
In  the  days  of  Nakaeia  the  palace  was  beset  with  some 
tall  coco-palms  which  commanded  the  enclosure.  It 
chanced  one  evening,  while  Nakaeia  sat  below  at  supper 
with  his  wives,  that  the  owner  of  the  grove  was  in  a 
tree-top  drawing  palm-tree  wine;  it  chanced  that  he 
looked  down,  and  the  king  at  the  same  moment  looking 
no,  their  eyes  encountered.  Instant  flight  preserved  the 
involuntary  criminal.     But  during  the  remainder  of  that 

220 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

reign  he  must  lurk  and  be  hid  by  friends  in  remote  parts 
of  the  isle;  Nakaeia  hunted  him  without  remission,  al- 
though still  in  vain ;  and  the  palms,  accessories  to  the  fact, 
were  ruthlessly  cut  down.  Such  was  the  ideal  of  wifely 
purity  in  an  isle  where  nubile  virgins  went  naked  as  in 
paradise.  And  yet  scandal  found  its  way  into  Nakaeia's 
well-guarded  harem.  He  was  at  that  time  the  owner 
of  a  schooner,  which  he  used  for  a  pleasure-house, 
lodging  on  board  as  she  lay  anchored;  and  thither  one 
day  he  summoned  a  new  wife.  She  was  one  that  had 
been  sealed  to  him;  that  is  to  say  (1  presume),  that  he 
was  married  to  her  sister,  for  the  husband  of  an  elder 
sister  has  the  call  of  the  cadets.  She  would  be  arrayed 
for  the  occasion ;  she  would  come  scented,  garlanded, 
decked  with  tine  mats  and  family  jewels,  for  marriage, 
as  her  friends  supposed;  for  death,  as  she  well  knew. 
"  Tell  me  the  man's  name,  and  I  will  spare  you,"  said 
Nakaeia.  But  the  girl  was  staunch ;  she  held  her  peace, 
saved  her  lover;  and  the  queens  strangled  her  between 
the  mats. 

Nakaeia  was  feared ;  it  does  not  appear  that  he  was 
hated.  Deeds  that  smell  to  us  of  murder  wore  to  his 
subjects  the  reverend  face  of  justice;  his  orgies  made 
him  popular;  natives  to  this  day  recall  with  respect  the 
firmness  of  his  government;  and  even  the  whites, 
whom  he  long  opposed  and  kept  at  arm's-length,  give 
him  the  name  (in  the  canonical  South  Sea  phrase)  of 
"a  perfect  gentleman  when  sober." 

When  he  came  to  lie,  without  issue,  on  the  bed  of 
death,  he  summoned  his  next  brother,  Nanteitei,  made 
him  a  discourse  on  royal  policy,  and  warned  him  he 
was  too  weak  to  reign.     The  warning  was  taken  to 

230 


THE    FOUR   BROTHERS 

heart,  and  for  some  while  the  government  moved  on 
the  model  of  Nakaeia's.  Nanteitei  dispensed  with 
guards,  and  walked  abroad  alone  with  a  revolver  in  a 
leather  mail-bag.  To  conceal  his  weakness  he  affected 
a  rude  silence;  you  might  talk  to  him  all  day;  advice, 
reproof,  appeal,  and  me^iace  alike  remained  unanswered. 
The  number  of  his  wives  was  seventeen,  many  of  them 
heiresses;  for  the  royal  house  is  poor,  and  marriage 
was  in  these  days  a  chief  means  of  buttressing  the 
throne.  Nakaeia  kept  his  harem  busy  for  himself;  Nan- 
teitei hired  it  out  to  others.  In  his  days,  for  instance, 
Messrs.  Wightman  built  a  pier  with  a  verandah  at  the 
north  end  of  the  town.  The  masonry  was  the  work 
of  the  seventeen  queens,  who  toiled  and  waded  there 
like  fisher  lasses;  but  the  man  who  was  to  do  the 
roofing  durst  not  begin  till  they  had  finished,  lest  by 
chance  he  should  look  down  and  see  them. 

It  was  perhaps  the  last  appearance  of  the  harem 
gang.  For  some  time  already  Hawaiian  missionaries 
had  been  seated  at  Butaritari — Maka  and  Kanoa,  two 
brave  childlike  men.  Nakaeia  would  none  of  their  doc- 
trine; he  was  perhaps  jealous  of  their  presence;  being 
human,  he  had  some  affection  for  their  persons.  In  the 
house,  before  the  eyes  of  Kanoa,  he  slew  with  his  own 
hand  three  sailors  of  Oahu,  crouching  on  their  backs  to 
knife  them,  and  menacing  the  missionary  if  he  inter- 
fered; yet  he  not  only  spared  him  at  the  moment,  but 
recalled  him  afterwards  (when  he  had  tied)  with  some 
expressions  of  respect.  Nanteitei,  the  weaker  man,  fell 
more  completely  under  the  spell.  Maka,  a  light-hearted, 
lovable,  yet  in  his  own  trade  very  rigorous  man  — 
gained  and  improved  an  influence  on  the  king  which 

231 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

soon  grew  paramount.  Nanteitei,  with  the  royal  house, 
was  publicly  converted;  and,  with  a  severity  which 
liberal  missionaries  disavow,  the  harem  was  at  once 
reduced.  It  was  a  compendious  act.  The  throne  was 
thus  impoverished,  its  influence  shaken,  the  queens' 
relatives  mortified,  and  sixteen  chief  women  (some  of 
great  possessions)  cast  in  a  body  on  the  market.  I  have 
been  shipmates  with  a  Hawaiian  sailor  who  was  suc- 
cessively married  to  two  of  these  impromptu  v/idows, 
and  successively  divorced  by  both  for  misconduct. 
That  two  great  and  rich  ladies  (for  both  of  these  were 
rich)  should  have  married  "  a  man  from  another  island  " 
marks  the  dissolution  of  society.  The  laws  besides 
were  wholly  remodelled,  not  always  for  the  better.  I 
love  Maka  as  a  man;  as  a  legislator  he  has  two  defects: 
weak  in  the  punishment  of  crime,  stern  to  repress  in- 
nocent pleasures. 

War  and  revolution  are  the  common  successors  of 
reform;  yet  Nanteitei  died  (of  an  overdose  of  chloro- 
form) in  quiet  possession  of  the  throne,  and  it  was  in 
the  reign  of  the  third  brother,  Nabakatokia,  a  man  brave 
in  body  and  feeble  of  character,  that  the  storm  burst. 
The  rule  of  the  high  chiefs  and  notables  seems  to  have 
always  underlain  and  perhaps  alternated  with  monarchy. 
The  Old  Men  (as  they  were  called)  have  a  right  to  sit 
with  the  king  in  the  Speak  House  and  debate:  and  the 
king's  chief  superiority  is  a  form  of  closure — "The 
Speaking  is  over."  After  the  long  monocracy  of  Nakaeia 
and  the  changes  of  Nanteitei,  the  Old  Men  were  doubt- 
less grown  impatient  of  obscurity,  and  they  were  be- 
yond question  jealous  of  the  influence  of  Maka.  Cal- 
umny, or  rather  caricature,  was  called  in  use;  a  spoken 

232 


THE   FOUR   BROTHERS 

cartoon  ran  round  society;  Maka  was  reported  to  have 
said  in  church  that  the  king  was  the  first  man  in  the 
island  and  himself  the  second;  and,  stung  by  the  sup- 
posed affront,  the  chiefs  broke  into  rebellion  and  armed 
gatherings.  In  the  space  of  one  forenoon  the  throne  of 
Nakaeia  was  humbled  in  the  dust.  The  king  sat  in  the 
maniap'  before  the  palace  gate  expecting  his  recruits; 
Maka  by  his  side,  both  anxious  men;  and  meanwhile, 
in  the  door  of  a  house  at  the  north  entry  of  the  town, 
a  chief  had  taken  post  and  diverted  the  succours  as  they 
came.  They  came  singly  or  in  groups,  each  with  his 
gun  or  pistol  slung  about  his  neck.  "  Where  are  you 
going  ?  "  asked  the  chief.  "  The  king  called  us,"  they 
would  reply.  "Here  is  your  place.  Sit  down,"  re- 
turned the  chief.  With  incredible  disloyalty,  all  obeyed ; 
and  sufficient  force  being  thus  got  together  from  both 
sides,  Nabakatokia  was  summoned  and  surrendered. 
About  this  period,  in  almost  every  part  of  the  group, 
the  kings  were  murdered;  and  on  Tapituea,  the  skele- 
ton of  the  last  hangs  to  this  day  in  the  chief  Speak 
House  of  the  isle,  a  menace  to  ambition.  Nabakatokia 
was  more  fortunate;  his  life  and  the  royal  style  were 
spared  to  him,  but  he  was  stripped  of  power.  The  Old 
Men  enjoyed  a  festival  of  public  speaking;  the  laws 
were  continually  changed,  never  enforced;  the  com- 
mons had  an  opportunity  to  regret  the  merits  of  Naka- 
eia; and  the  king,  denied  the  resource  of  rich  marriages 
and  the  service  of  a  troop  of  wives,  fell  not  only  in  dis- 
consideration  but  in  debt. 

He  died  some  months  before  my  arrival  in  the  islands, 
and  no  one  regretted  him;  rather  all  looked  hopefully 
to  his  successor.     This  was  by  repute  the  hero  of  the 

233 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

family.  Alone  of  the  four  brothers,  he  had  issue,  a 
grown  son,  Natiata,  and  a  daughter  three  years  old;  it 
was  to  him,  in  the  hour  of  the  revolution,  that  Nabaka- 
tokia  turned  too  late  for  help;  and  in  earlier  days  he 
had  been  the  right  hand  of  the  vigorous  Nakaeia.  Nan- 
temat',  Mr.  Corpse,  was  his  appalling  nickname,  and 
he  had  earned  it  well.  Again  and  again,  at  the  com- 
mand of  Nakaeia,  he  had  surrounded  houses  in  the  dead 
of  night,  cut  down  the  mosquito  bars  and  butchered  fam- 
ilies. Here  was  the  hand  of  iron;  here  was  Nakaeia 
rediix.  He  came,  summoned  from  the  tributary  rule  of 
Little  Makin:  he  was  installed,  he  proved  a  puppet  and 
a  trembler,  the  unwieldy  shuttlecock  of  orators;  and  the 
reader  has  seen  the  remains  of  him  in  his  summer  par- 
lour under  the  name  of  Tebureimoa. 

The  change  in  the  man's  character  was  much  com- 
mented on  in  the  island,  and  variously  explained  by 
opium  and  Christianity.  To  my  eyes,  there  seemed  no 
change  at  all,  rather  an  extreme  consistency.  Mr.  Corpse 
was  afraid  of  his  brother:  King  Tebureimoa  is  afraid  of 
the  Old  Men.  Terror  of  the  first  nerved  him  for  deeds 
of  desperation;  fear  of  the  second  disables  him  for  the 
least  act  of  government.  He  played  his  part  of  bravo  in 
the  past,  following  the  line  of  least  resistance,  butcher- 
ing others  in  his  own  defence:  to-day,  grown  elderly 
and  heavy,  a  convert,  a  reader  of  the  Bible,  perhaps  a 
penitent,  conscious  at  least  of  accumulated  hatreds,  and 
his  memory  charged  with  images  of  violence  and  blood, 
he  capitulates  to  the  Old  Men,  fuddles  himself  with 
opium,  and  sits  among  his  guards  in  dreadful  expecta- 
tion. The  same  cowardice  that  put  into  his  hand  the 
knife  of  the  assassin  deprives  him  of  the  sceptre  of  a  king. 

234 


THE   FOUR   BROTHERS 

A  tale  that  I  was  told,  a  trifling  incident  that  fell  in 
my  observation,  depict  him  in  his  two  capacities.  A 
chief  in  Little  Makin  asked,  in  an  hour  of  lightness, 
"Who  is  Kaeia?"  A  bird  carried  the  saying;  and  Na- 
kaeia  placed  the  matter  in  the  hands  of  a  committee  of 
three.  Mr.  Corpse  was  chairman;  the  second  commis- 
sioner died  before  my  arrival;  the  third  was  yet  alive 
and  green,  and  presented  so  venerable  an  appearance 
that  we  gave  him  the  name  of  Abou  ben  Adhem.  Mr. 
Corpse  was  troubled  with  a  scruple;  the  man  from 
Little  Makin  was  his  adopted  brother;  in  such  a  case  it 
was  not  very  delicate  to  appear  at  all,  to  strike  the  blow 
(which  it  seems  was  otherwise  expected  of  him)  would 
be  worse  than  awkward.  "1  will  strike  the  blow," 
said  the  venerable  Abou;  and  Mr.  Corpse  (surely  with 
a  sigh)  accepted  the  compromise.  The  quarry  was  de- 
coyed into  the  bush;  he  was  set  to  carrying  a  log;  and 
while  his  arms  were  raised  Abou  ripped  up  his  belly  at 
a  blow.  Justice  being  thus  done,  the  commission,  in 
a  childish  horror,  turned  to  flee.  But  their  victim  re- 
called them  to  his  side.  "You  need  not  run  away 
now,"  he  said.  "You  have  done  this  thing  to  me. 
Stay."  He  was  some  twenty  minutes  dying,  and  his 
murderers  sat  with  him  the  while :  a  scene  for  Shake- 
speare. All  the  stages  of  a  violent  death,  the  blood, 
the  failing  voice,  the  decomposing  features,  the  changed 
hue,  are  thus  present  in  the  memory  of  Mr.  Corpse; 
and  since  he  studied  them  in  the  brother  he  betrayed, 
he  has  some  reason  to  reflect  on  the  possibilities  of 
treachery.  1  was  never  more  sure  of  anything  than  the 
tragic  quality  of  the  king's  thoughts;  and  yet  1  had  but 
the  one  sight  of  him  at  unawares.     I  had  once  an  er- 

235 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

rand  for  his  ear.  It  was  once  more  the  hour  of  the  siesta ; 
but  there  were  loiterers  abroad,  and  these  directed  us  to 
a  closed  house  on  the  bank  of  the  canal  where  Teburei- 
moa  lay  unguarded.  We  entered  without  ceremony, 
being  in  some  haste.  He  lay  on  the  floor  upon  a  bed 
of  mats,  reading  in  his  Gilbert  Island  Bible  with  com- 
punction. On  our  sudden  entrance  the  unwieldy  man 
reared  himself  half-sitting  so  that  the  Bible  rolled  on  the 
floor,  stared  on  us  a  moment  with  blank  eyes,  and,  hav- 
ing recognised  his  visitors,  sank  again  upon  the  mats. 
So  Eglon  looked  on  Ehud. 

The  justice  of  facts  is  strange,  and  strangely  just:  Na- 
kaeia,  the  author  of  these  deeds,  died  at  peace  discours- 
ing on  the  craft  of  kings;  his  tool  suffers  daily  death  for 
his  enforced  complicity.  Not  the  nature,  but  the  con- 
gruity  of  men's  deeds  and  circumstances  damn  and  save 
them;  and  Tebureimoa  from  the  first  has  been  incon- 
gruously placed.  At  home,  in  a  quiet  byst.eet  of  a  vil- 
lage, the  man  had  been  a  worthy  carpenter,  and,  even 
bedevilled  as  he  is,  he  shows  some  private  virtues.  He 
has  no  lands,  only  the  use  of  such  as  are  impignorate 
for  fines;  he  cannot  enrich  himself  in  the  old  way  by 
marriages;  thrift  is  the  chief  pillar  of  his  future,  and  he 
knows  and  uses  it.  Eleven  foreign  traders  pay  him  a 
patent  of  a  hundred  dollars,  some  two  thousand  sub- 
jects pay  capitation  at  the  rate  of  a  dollar  for  a  man,  half 
a  dollar  for  a  woman,  and  a  shilling  for  a  child:  allow- 
ing for  the  exchange,  perhaps  a  total  of  three  hundred 
pounds  a  year.  He  had  been  some  nine  months  on  the 
throne:  had  bought  his  wife  a  silk  dress  and  hat,  figure 
unknown,  and  himself  a  uniform  at  three  hundred  dol- 
lars; had  sent  his  brother's  photograph  to  be  enlarged 

236 


THE    FOUR   BROTHERS 

in  San  Francisco  at  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars;  had 
greatly  reduced  that  brother's  legacy  of  debt;  and  had 
still  sovereigns  in  his  pocket.  An  affectionate  brother, 
a  good  economist;  he  was  besides  a  handy  carpenter, 
and  cobbled  occasionally  on  the  woodwork  of  the  pal- 
ace. It  is  not  wonderful  that  Mr.  Corpse  has  virtues; 
that  Tebureimoa  should  have  a  diversion  filled  me  with 
surprise. 


\ 


^37 


CHAPTER  III 


AROUND    OUR    HOUSE 


When  we  left  the  palace  we  were  still  but  seafarers 
ashore;  and  within  the  hour  we  had  installed  our  goods 
in  one  of  the  six  foreign  houses  of  Butaritari,  namely, 
that  usually  occupied  by  Maka,  the  Hawaiian  mission- 
ary. Two  San  Francisco  firms  are  here  established, 
Messrs.  Crawford  and  Messrs.  Wightman  Brothers;  the 
first  hard  by  the  palace  of  the  mid  town,  the  second  at 
the  north  entry;  each  with  a  store  and  bar-room.  Our 
house  was  in  the  Wightman  compound,  betwixt  the 
store  and  bar.  within  a  fenced  enclosure.  Across  the 
road  a  few  native  houses  nestled  in  the  margin  of  the 
bush,  and  the  green  wall  of  palms  rose  solid,  shutting 
out  the  breeze.  A  little  sandy  cove  of  the  lagoon  ran 
in  behind,  sheltered  by  a  verandah  pier,  the  labour  of 
queens'  hands.  Here,  when  the  tide  was  high,  sailed 
boats  lay  to  be  loaded;  when  the  tide  was  low,  the 
boats  took  ground  some  half  a  mile  away,  and  an  end- 
less series  of  natives  descended  the  pier  stair,  tailed 
across  the  sand  in  strings  and  clusters,  waded  to  the 
waist  with  the  bags  of  copra,  and  loitered  backward  to 
renew  their  charge.  The  mystery  of  the  copra  trade 
tormented  me,  as  1  sat  and  watched  the  profits  drip  on 
the  stair  and  the  sands. 

238 


AROUND   OUR   HOUSE 

In  front,  from  shortly  after  four  in  the  morning  until 
nine  at  night,  the  folk  of  the  town  streamed  by  us  inter- 
mittingly  along  the  road :  families  going  up  the  island 
to  make  copra  on  their  lands;  women  bound  for  the 
bush  to  gather  flowers  against  the  evening  toilet;  and, 
twice  a  day,  the  toddy-cutters,  each  with  his  knife  and 
shell.  In  the  first  grey  of  the  morning,  and  again  late  in 
the  afternoon,  these  would  straggle  past  about  their  tree- 
top  business,  strike  off  here  and  there  into  the  bush, 
and  vanish  from  the  face  of  earth.  At  about  the  same 
hour,  if  the  tide  be  low  in  the  lagoon,  you  are  likely  to 
be  bound  yourself  across  the  island  for  a  bath,  and  may 
enter  close  at  their  heels  alleys  of  the  palm  wood. 
Right  in  front,  although  the  sun  is  not  yet  risen,  the 
east  is  already  lighted  with  preparatory  fires,  and  the 
huge  accumulations  of  the  trade-wind  cloud  glow  with 
and  heliograph  the  coming  day.  The  breeze  is  in  your 
face;  overhead  in  the  tops  of  the  palms,  its  playthings, 
it  maintains  a  lively  bustle;  look  where  you  will,  above 
or  below,  there  is  no  human  presence,  only  the  earth 
and  shaken  forest.  And  right  overhead  the  song  of  an 
invisible  singer  breaks  from  the  thick  leaves;  from  far- 
ther on  a  second  tree-top  answers;  and  beyond  again, 
in  the  bosom  of  the  woods,  a  still  more  distant  minstrel 
perches  and  sways  and  sings.  So,  all  round  the  isle, 
the  toddy-cutters  sit  on  high,  and  are  rocked  by  the 
trade,  and  have  a  view  far  to  seaward,  where  they 
keep  watch  for  sails,  and  like  huge  birds  utter  their 
songs  in  the  morning.  They  sing  with  a  certain  lusti- 
ness and  Bacchic  glee;  the  volume  of  sound  and  the 
articulate  melody  fiill  unexpected  from  the  tree-top, 
whence  we  anticipate  the  chattering  of  fowls.    And  yet 

239 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

in  a  sense  these  songs  also  are  but  chatter ;  the  words  are 
ancient,  obsolete,  and  sacred;  few  comprehend  them, 
perhaps  no  one  perfectly;  but  it  was  understood  the 
cutters  "  prayed  to  have  good  toddy,  and  sang  of  their 
old  wars."  The  prayer  is  at  least  answered;  and  when 
the  foaming  shell  is  brought  to  your  door,  you  have  a 
beverage  well  "  worthy  of  a  grace."  All  forenoon  you 
may  return  and  taste;  it  only  sparkles,  and  sharpens, 
and  grows  to  be  a  new  drink,  not  less  delicious;  but 
with  the  progress  of  the  day  the  fermentation  quickens 
and  grows  acid;  in  twelve  hours  it  will  be  yeast  for 
bread,  in  two  days  more  a  devilish  intoxicant,  the  coun- 
sellor of  crime. 

The  men  are  of  a  marked  Arabian  cast  of  features,  of- 
ten bearded  and  mustached,  often  gaily  dressed,  some 
with  bracelets  and  anklets,  all  stalking  hidalgo-like,  and 
accepting  salutations  with  a  haughty  lip.  The  hair 
(with  the  dandies  of  either  sex)  is  worn  turban-wise  in 
a  frizzled  bush;  and  like  the  daggers  of  the  Japanese,  a 
pointed  stick  (used  for  a  comb)  is  thrust  gallantly  among 
the  curls.  The  women  from  this  bush  of  hair  look  forth 
enticingly:  the  race  cannot  be  compared  with  theTahi- 
tian  for  female  beauty ;  I  doubt  even  if  the  average  be 
high;  but  some  of  the  prettiest  girls,  and  one  of  the 
handsomest  women  I  ever  saw,  were  Gilbertines.  Bu- 
taritari,  being  the  commercial  center  of  the  group,  is 
Europeanised;  the  colored  sacque  or  the  white  shift  are 
common  wear,  the  latter  for  the  evening;  the  trade  hat, 
loaded  with  flowers,  fruit,  and  ribbons,  is  unfortunately 
not  unknown;  and  the  characteristic  female  dress  of  the 
Gilberts  no  longer  universal.  The  ridi  is  its  name:  a 
cutty  petticoat  or  fringe  of  the  smoked  fibre  of  cocoa- 

240 


AROUND   OUR    HOUSE 

nut  leaf,  not  unlike  tarry  string;  the  lower  edge  not 
reaching  the  mid-thigh,  the  upper  adjusted  so  low  upon 
the  haunches  that  it  seems  to  cling  by  accident.  A 
sneeze,  you  think,  and  the  lady  must  surely  be  left  des- 
titute. "The  perilous,  hairbreadth  ridi  "  was  our  word 
for  it;  and  in  the  contlict  that  rages  over  women's  dress 
it  has  the  misfortune  to  please  neither  side,  the  prudish 
condemning  it  as  insufficient,  the  more  frivolous  finding 
it  unlovely  in  itself.  Yet  if  a  pretty  Gilbertine  would 
look  her  best,  that  must  be  her  costume.  In  that,  and 
naked  otherwise,  she  moves  with  an  incomparable  lib- 
erty and  grace  and  life,  that  marks  the  poetry  of  Micro- 
nesia. Bundle  her  in  a  gown,  the  charm  is  fled,  and 
she  wriggles  like  an  Englishwoman. 

Towards  dusk  the  passers-by  became  more  gorgeous. 
The  men  broke  out  in  all  the  colours,  of  the  rainbow  — 
or  at  least  of  the  trade-room, —  and  both  men  and  wo- 
men began  to  be  adorned  and  scented  with  new  flow- 
ers. A  small  white  blossom  is  the  favourite,  sometimes 
sown  singly  in  a  woman's  hair  like  little  stars,  now 
composed  in  a  thick  wreath.  With  the  night,  the 
crowd  sometimes  thickened  in  the  road,  and  the  pad- 
ding and  brushing  of  bare  feet  became  continuous;  the 
promenades  mostly  grave,  the  silence  only  interrupted 
by  some  giggling  and  scampering  of  girls;  even  the 
children  quiet.  At  nine,  bed-time  struck  on  a  bell 
from  the  cathedral,  and  the  life  of  the  town  ceased. 
At  four  the  next  morning  the  signal  is  repeated  in  the 
darkness,  and  the  innocent  prisoners  set  free;  but  for 
seven  hours  all  must  lie — I  was  about  to  say  within 
doors,  of  a  place  where  doors,  and  even  walls,  are  an 
exception  —  housed,  at  least,  under  their  airy  roofs  and 

241 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

clustered  in  the  tents  of  the  mosquito-nets.  Suppose  a 
necessary  errand  to  occur,  suppose  it  imperative  to  send 
abroad,  the  messenger  must  then  go  openly,  advertising 
himself  to  the  police  with  a  huge  brand  of  cocoa-nut, 
which  flares  from  house  to  house  like  a  moving  bon- 
fire. Only  the  police  themselves  go  darkling,  and  grope 
in  the  night  for  misdemeanants.  1  used  to  hate  their 
treacherous  presence;  their  captain  in  particular,  a 
crafty  old  man  in  white,  lurked  nightly  about  my  prem- 
ises till  I  could  have  found  it  in  my  heart  to  beat  him. 
But  the  rogue  was  privileged. 

Not  one  of  the  eleven  resident  traders  came  to  town, 
no  captain  cast  anchor  in  the  lagoon,  but  we  saw  him 
ere  the  hour  was  out.  This  was  owing  to  our  position 
between  the  store  and  the  bar  —  the  Sans  Souci,  as  the 
last  was  called.  Mr.  Rick  was  not  only  Messrs.  Wight- 
man's  manager,  but  consular  agent  for  the  States;  Mrs. 
Rick  was  the  only  white  woman  on  the  island,  and  one 
of  the  only  two  in  the  archipelago;  their  house  besides, 
with  its  cool  verandahs,  its  bookshelves,  its  comfortable 
furniture,  could  not  be  rivalled  nearer  than  Jaluit  or 
Honolulu.  Every  one  called  in  consequence,  save  such 
as  might  be  prosecuting  a  South  Sea  quarrel,  hingeing 
on  the  price  of  copra  and  the  odd  cent,  or  perhaps  a 
difference  about  poultry.  Even  these,  if  they  did  not 
appear  upon  the  north,  would  be  presently  visible  to 
the  southward,  the  Sans  Souci  drawing  them  as  with 
cords.  In  an  island  with  a  total  population  of  twelve 
white  persons,  one  of  the  two  drinking-shops  might 
seem  superfluous;  but  every  bullet  has  its  billet,  and  the 
double  accommodation  of  Butaritari  is  found  in  practice 
highly  convenient  by  the  captains  and  the  crews  of 

242 


AROUND   OUR   HOUSE 

ships:  The  Land  we  Live  in  being  tacitly  resigned  to  the 
forecastle,  the  Sans  Souci  tacitly  reserved  for  the  after- 
guard. So  aristocratic  were  my  habits,  so  commanding 
was  my  fear  of  Mr.  Williams,  that  I  have  never  visited 
the  first;  but  in  the  other,  which  was  the  club  or  rather 
the  casino  of  the  island,  I  regularly  passed  my  even- 
ings. It  was  small,  but  neatly  fitted,  and  at  night 
(when  the  lamp  was  lit)  sparkled  with  glass  and  glowed 
with  coloured  pictures  like  a  theatre  at  Christmas.  The 
pictures  were  advertisements,  the  glass  coarse  enough, 
the  carpentry  amateur;  but  the  effect,  in  that  incongru- 
ous isle,  was  of  unbridled  luxury  and  inestimable  ex- 
pense. Here  songs  were  sung,  tales  told,  tricks  per- 
formed, games  played.  The  Ricks,  ourselves,  Nor- 
wegian Tom  the  bar-keeper,  a  captain  or  two  from  the 
ships,  and  perhaps  three  or  four  traders  come  down  the 
island  in  their  boats  or  by  the  road  on  foot,  made  up  the 
usual  company.  The  traders,  all  bred  to  the  sea,  take  a 
humorous  pride  in  their  new  business;  "South  Sea  Mer- 
chants "  is  the  title  they  prefer.  "  We  are  all  sailors  here  " 
— "Merchants,  if  you  please  " —  "  South  Sea  Merchants," 
—  was  a  piece  of  conversation  endlessly  repeated,  that 
never  seemed  to  lose  in  savour.  We  found  them  at  all  times 
simple, genial,gay,gallant,and  obliging;  and, across  some 
interval  of  time, recall  with  pleasure  the  traders  of  Butari- 
tari.  There  was  one  black  sheep  indeed.  I  tell  of  him  here 
where  he  lived,  against  my  rule;  for  in  this  case  I  have 
no  measure  to  preserve,  and  the  man  is  typical  of  a  class 
of  ruffians  that  once  disgraced  the  whole  field  of  the 
South  Seas,  and  still  linger  in  the  rarely  visited  isles  of 
Micronesia.  He  had  the  name  on  the  beach  of  "a  per- 
fect gentleman  when  sober,"  but  I  never  saw  him  other- 

243 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

wise  than  drunk.  The  few  shocking  and  savage  traits 
of  the  Micronesian  he  has  singled  out  with  the  skill  of  a 
collector,  and  planted  in  the  soil  of  his  original  baseness. 
He  has  been  accused  and  acquitted  of  a  treacherous 
murder;  and  has  since  boastfully  owned  it,  which  in- 
clines me  to  suppose  him  innocent.  His  daughter  is 
defaced  by  his  erroneous  cruelty,  for  it  was  his  wife  he 
had  intended  to  disfigure,  and,  in  the  darkness  of  the 
night  and  the  frenzy  of  coco-brandy,  fastened  on  the 
wrong  victim.  The  wife  has  since  fled  and  harbours  in 
the  bush  with  natives;  and  the  husband  still  demands 
from  deaf  ears  her  forcible  restoration.  The  best  of  his 
business  is  to  make  natives  drink,  and  then  advance 
the  money  for  the  fine  upon  a  lucrative  mortgage. 
"  Respect  for  whites  "  is  the  man's  word:  "  What  is  the 
matter  with  this  island  is  the  want  of  respect  for  whites," 
On  his  way  to  Butaritari,  while  I  was  there,  he  spied 
his  wife  in  the  bush  with  certain  natives  and  made  a 
dash  to  capture  her;  whereupon  one  of  her  companions 
drew  a  knife,  and  the  husband  retreated;  "  Do  you  call 
that  proper  respect  for  whites  ?  "  he  cried.  At  an  early 
stage  of  the  acquaintance  we  proved  our  respect  for  his 
kind  of  white  by  forbidding  him  our  enclosure  under  pain 
of  death.  Thenceforth  he  lingered  often  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood with  1  knew  not  what  sense  of  envy  or  design 
of  mischief;  his  white,  handsome  face  (which  1  beheld 
with  loathing)  looked  in  upon  us  at  all  hours  across 
the  fence;  and  once,  from  a  safe  distance,  he  avenged 
himself  by  shouting  a  recondite  island  insult,  to  us  quite 
inoffensive,  on  his  English  lips  incredibly  incongruous. 
Our  enclosure,  round  which  this  composite  of  degra- 
dations wandered,  was  of  some  extent.     In  one  corner 

244 


AROUND   OUR   HOUSE 

was  a  trellis  with  a  long  table  of  rough  boards.  Here 
the  Fourth  of  July  feast  had  been  held  not  long  before 
with  memorable  consequences,  yet  to  be  set  forth;  here 
we  took  our  meals;  here  entertained  to  a  dinner  the 
king  and  notables  of  Makin.  In  the  midst  was  the 
house,  with  a  verandah  front  and  back,  and  three  rooms 
within.  In  the  verandah  we  slung  our  man-of-war 
hammocks,  worked  there  by  day,  and  slept  at  night. 
Within  were  beds,  chairs,  a  round  table,  a  fine  hanging- 
lamp,  and  portraits  of  the  royal  family  of  Hawaii. 
Queen  Victoria  proves  nothing;  Kalakaua  and  Mrs. 
Bishop  are  diagnostic;  and  the  truth  is  we  were  the 
stealthy  tenants  of  the  parsonage.  On  the  day  of  our 
arrival  Maka  was  away ;  faithless  trustees  unlocked  his 
doors;  and  the  dear  rigorous  man,  the  sworn  foe  of 
liquor  and  tobacco,  returned  to  find  his  verandah  littered 
with  cigarettes  and  his  parlour  horrible  with  bottles. 
He  made  but  one  condition  —  on  the  round  table,  which 
he  used  in  the  celebration  of  the  sacraments,  he  begged 
us  to  refrain  from  setting  liquor;  in  all  else  he  bowed  to 
the  accomplished  fact,  refused  rent,  retired  across  the 
way  into  a  native  house,  and,  plying  in  his  boat,  beat 
the  remotest  quarters  of  the  isle  for  provender.  He  found 
us  pigs  —  I  could  not  f^incy  where  —  no  other  pigs  were 
visible;  he  brought  us  fowls  and  taro;  when  we  gave 
our  feast  to  the  monarch  and  gentry,  it  was  he  who 
supplied  the  wherewithal,  he  who  superintended  the 
cooking,  he  who  asked  grace  at  table,  and  when  the 
king's  health  was  proposed,  he  also  started  the  cheering 
with  an  English  hip-hip-hip.  There  was  never  a  more 
fortunate  conception ;  the  heart  of  the  flitted  king  exulted 
in  his  bosom  at  the  sound. 

345 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

Take  him  for  all  in  all,  I  have  never  known  a  more 
engaging  creature  than  this  parson  of  Butaritari:  his 
mirth,  his  kindness,  his  noble,  friendly  feelings,  brimmed 
from  the  man  in  speech  and  gesture.  He  loved  to  ex- 
aggerate, to  act  and  overact  the  momentary  part,  to  ex- 
ercise his  lungs  and  muscles,  and  to  speak  and  laugh 
with  his  whole  body.  He  had  the  morning  cheerful- 
ness of  birds  and  healthy  children;  and  his  humor 
was  infectious.  We  were  next  neighbours  and  met 
daily,  yet  our  salutations  lasted  minutes  at  a  stretch  — 
shaking  hands,  slapping  shoulders,  capering  like  a  pair 
of  Merry-Andrews,  laughing  to  split  our  sides  upon 
some  pleasantry  that  would  scarce  raise  a  titter  in  an 
infant-school.  It  might  be  five  in  the  morning,  the 
toddy-cutters  just  gone  by,  the  road  empty,  the  shade 
of  the  island  lying  far  on  the  lagoon:  and  the  ebullition 
cheered  me  for  the  day. 

Yet  1  always  suspected  Maka  of  a  secret  melancholy; 
these  jubilant  extremes  could  scarce  be  constantly  main- 
tained. He  was  besides  long,  and  lean,  and  lined,  and 
corded,  and  a  trifle  grizzled;  and  his  Sabbath  counte- 
nance was  even  saturnine.  On  that  day  we  made  a 
procession  to  the  church,  or  (as  I  must  always  call  it) 
the  cathedral:  Maka  (a  blot  on  the  hot  landscape)  in 
tall  hat,  black  frock-coat,  black  trousers;  under  his  arm 
the  hymn-book  and  the  Bible;  in  his  ftice,  a  reverent 
gravity:  —  beside  him  Mary  his  wife,  a  quiet,  wise,  and 
handsome  elderly  lady,  seriously  attired:  —  myself  fol- 
lowing with  singular  and  moving  thoughts.  '  Long  be- 
fore, to  the  sound  of  bells  and  streams  and  birds,  through 
a  green  Lothian  glen,  1  had  accompanied  Sunday  by  Sun- 
day a  minister  in  whose  house  1  lodged ;  and  the  likeness, 

246 


AROUND   OUR   HOUSE 

and  the  difference,  and  the  series  of  years  and  deaths, 
profoundly  touched  me.  In  the  great,  dusi<y,  palm-tree 
cathedral  the  congregation  rarely  numbered  thirty:  the 
men  on  one  side,  the  women  on  the  other,  myself 
posted  (for  a  privilege)  amongst  the  women,  and  the 
small  missionary  contingent  gathered  close  around  the 
platform,  we  were  lost  in  that  round  vault.  The  les- 
sons were  read  antiphonally,  the  flock  was  catechised, 
a  blind  youth  repeated  weekly  a  long  string  of  psalms, 
hymns  were  sung  —  I  never  heard  worse  singing, — 
and  the  sermon  followed.  To  say  I  understood  no- 
thing were  untrue;  there  were  points  that  1  learned  to 
expect  with  certainty;  the  name  of  Honolulu,  that  of 
Kalakaua,  the  word  Cap'n-man-o'-wa',  the  word  ship, 
and  a  description  of  a  storm  at  sea,  infallibly  occurred; 
and  I  was  not  seldom  rewarded  with  the  name  of  my 
own  Sovereign  in  the  bargain.  The  rest  was  but  sound 
to  the  ears,  silence  for  the  mind:  a  plain  expanse  of 
tedium,  rendered  unbearable  by  heat,  a  hard  chair,  and 
the  sight  through  the  wide  doors  of  the  more  happy 
heathen  on  the  green.  Sleep  breathed  on  my  joints 
and  eyelids,  sleep  hummed  in  my  ears;  it  reigned  in  the 
dim  cathedral.  The  congregation  stirred  and  stretched ; 
they  moaned,  they  groaned  aloud;  they  yawned  upon 
a  singing  note,  as  you  may  sometimes  hear  a  dog  when 
he  has  reached  the  tragic  bitterest  of  boredom.  In  vain 
the  preacher  thumped  the  table;  in  vain  he  singled  and 
addressed  by  name  particular  hearers.  I  was  myself 
perhaps  a  more  effective  excitant;  and  at  least  to  one 
old  gentleman  the  spectacle  of  my  successful  struggles 
against  sleep  — and  I  hope  they  were  successful  — 
cheered   the  flight  of  time.     He,   when  he  was   not 

247 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

catching  flies  or  playing  tricks  upon  his  neighbours, 
gloated  with  a  fixed,  truculent  eye  upon  the  stages  of 
my  agony;  and  once,  when  the  service  was  drawing 
towards  a  close,  he  winked  at  me  across  the  church. 

I  write  of  the  service  with  a  smile;  yet  I  was  always 
there — always  with  respect  for  Maka,  always  with  ad- 
miration for  his  deep  seriousness,  his  burning  energy, 
the  fire  of  his  roused  eye,  the  sincere  and  various  ac- 
cents of  his  voice.  To  see  him  weekly  flogging  a  dead 
horse  and  blowing  a  cold  fire  was  a  lesson  in  fortitude 
and  constancy.  It  may  be  a  question  whether  if  the 
mission  were  fully  supported,  and  he  was  set  free  from 
business  avocations,  more  might  not  result;  I  think 
otherwise  myself;  I  think  not  neglect  but  rigour  has 
reduced  his  flock,  that  rigour  which  has  once  provoked 
a  revolution,  and  which  to-day,  in  a  man  so  lively  and 
engaging,  amazes  the  beholder.  No  song,  no  dance, 
no  tobacco,  no  liquor,  no  alleviative  of  life — only  toil 
and  church-going;  so  says  a  voice  from  his  face;  and 
the  face  is  the  face  of  the  Polynesian  Esau,  but  the  voice 
is  the  voice  of  a  Jacob  from  a  different  world.  And  a 
Polynesian  at  the  best  makes  a  singular  missionary  in 
the  Gilberts,  coming  from  a  country  recklessly  unchaste 
to  one  conspicuously  strict;  from  a  race  hag-ridden 
with  bogies  to  one  comparatively  bold  against  the  ter- 
rors of  the  dark.  The  thought  was  stamped  one  morn- 
ing in  my  mind,  when  I  chanced  to  be  abroad  by 
moonlight,  and  saw  all  the  town  lightless,  but  the  lamp 
faithfully  burning  by  the  missionary's  bed.  It  requires 
no  law,  no  fire,  and  no  scouting  police,  to  withhold 
Maka  and  his  countrymen  from  wandering  in  the  night 
unlighted. 

248 


CHAPTER  IV 


A   TALE   OF   A   TAPU 


On  the  morrow  of  our  arrival  (Sunday,  14th  July, 
1889)  our  photographers  were  early  stirring.  Once  more 
we  traversed  a  silent  town ;  many  were  yet  abed  and 
asleep;  some  sat  drowsily  in  their  open  houses;  there 
was  no  sound  of  intercourse  or  business.  In  that  hour 
before  the  shadows,  the  quarter  of  the  palace  and  canal 
seemed  like  a  landing-place  in  the  Arabian  Nights  or 
from  the  classic  poets ;  here  were  the  fit  destination  of 
some  "faery  frigot,"  here  some  adventurous  prince 
might  step  ashore  among  new  characters  and  incidents; 
and  the  island  prison,  where  it  floated  on  the  luminous 
face  of  the  lagoon,  might  have  passed  for  the  repository 
of  the  Grail,  In  such  a  scene,  and  at  such  an  hour,  the 
impression  received  was  not  so  much  of  foreign  travel 
—  rather  of  past  ages ;  it  seemed  not  so  much  degrees 
of  latitude  that  we  had  crossed,  as  centuries  of  time  that 
we  had  re-ascended;  leaving,  by  the  same  steps,  home 
and  to-day,  A  few  children  followed  us,  mostly  nude, 
all  silent;  in  the  clear,  weedy  waters  of  the  canal  some 
silent  damsels  waded,  baring  their  brown  thighs;  and 
to  one  of  the  maniap's  before  the  palace  gate  we  were 
attracted  by  a  low  but  stirring  hum  of  speech. 

The  oval  shed  was  full  of  men  sitting  cross-legged. 
249 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

The  king  was  there  in  striped  pyjamas,  his  rear  pro- 
tected by  four  guards  with  Winchesters,  his  air  and 
bearing  marked  by  unwonted  spirit  and  decision;  tum- 
blers and  bhick  bottles  went  the  round ;  and  the  talk, 
throughout  loud,  was  general  and  animated.  I  was  in- 
clined at  first  to  view  this  scene  with  suspicion.  But 
the  hour  appeared  unsuitable  for  a  carouse;  drink  was 
besides  forbidden  equally  by  the  law  of  the  land  and  the 
canons  of  the  church;  and  while  1  was  yet  hesitating, 
the  king's  rigorous  attitude  disposed  of  my  last  doubt. 
We  had  come,  thinking  to  photograph  him  surrounded 
by  his  guards,  and  at  the  first  word  of  the  design  his 
piety  revolted.  We  were  reminded  of  the  day  —  the 
Sabbath  —  in  which  thou  shalt  take  no  photographs — ■ 
and  returned  with  a  flea  in  our  ear,  bearing  the  rejected 
camera. 

At  church,  a  little  later,  I  was  struck  to  find  the  throne 
unoccupied.  So  nice  a  Sabbatarian  might  have  found 
the  means  to  be  present;  perhaps  my  doubts  revived; 
and  before  I  got  home  they  were  transformed  to  cer- 
tainties. Tom,  the  bar-keeper  of  the  Saiis  Soiici,  was 
in  conversation  with  two  emissaries  from  the  court. 
The  "keen,"  they  said,  wanted  "din,"  failing  which, 
"perandi."!  No  din,  was  Tom's  reply,  and  no  pe- 
randi;  but  "  pira  "  if  they  pleased.  It  seems  they  had 
no  use  for  beer,  and  departed  sorrowing. 

"Why,  what  is  the  meaning  of  all  this?"  I  asked. 
"  Is  the  island  on  the  spree  ?  " 

Such  was  the  fact.  On  the  4th  of  July  a  feast  had 
been  made,  and  the  king,  at  the  suggestion  of  the 
whites,  had  raised  the  tapu  against  liquor.     There  is  a 

1  Gill  and  Brandy. 
250 


A   TALE   OF   A   TAPU 

proverb  about  horses;  it  scarce  applies  to  the  superior 
animal,  of  whom  it  may  be  rather  said,  that  any  one 
can  start  him  drinking,  not  any  twenty  can  prevail  on 
him  to  stop.  The  tapu,  raised  ten  days  before,  was  not 
yet  re-imposed;  for  ten  days  the  town  had  been  passing 
the  bottle  or  lying  (as  we  had  seen  it  the  afternoon  be- 
fore) in  hoggish  sleep;  and  the  king,  moved  by  the  Old 
Men  and  his  own  appetites,  continued  to  maintain  the 
liberty,  to  squander  his  savings  on  liquor,  and  to  join 
in  and  lead  the  debauch.  The  whites  were  the  authors 
of  this  crisis;  it  was  upon  their  own  proposal  that  the 
freedom  had  been  granted  at  the  first;  and  for  a  while, 
in  the  interests  of  trade,  they  were  doubtless  pleased  it 
should  continue.  That  pleasure  had  now  sometime 
ceased;  the  bout  had  been  prolonged  (it  was  conceded) 
unduly;  and  it  now  began  to  be  a  question  how  it 
might  conclude.  Hence  Tom's  refusal.  Yet  that  re- 
fusal was  avowedly  only  for  the  moment,  and  it  was 
avowedly  unavailing;  the  king's  foragers,  denied  by 
Tom  at  the  Sans  Soiici,  would  be  supplied  at  The  Land 
ive  Live  in  by  the  gobbling  Mr.  Williams. 

The  degree  of  the  peril  was  not  easy  to  measure  at 
the  time,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  now  it  was  easy 
to  exaggerate.  Yet  the  conduct  of  drunkards  even  at 
home  is  always  matter  for  anxiety;  and  at  home  our 
populations  are  not  armed  from  the  highest  to  the  low- 
est with  revolvers  and  repeating  rifles,  neither  do  we 
go  on  a  debauch  by  the  whole  townful  —  and  I  might 
rather  say,  by  the  whole  polity  —  king,  magistrates, 
police,  and  army  joining  in  one  common  scene  of 
drunkenness.  It  must  be  thought  besides  that  we  were 
here  in  barbarous  islands,  rarely  visited,  lately  and  partly 

251 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

civilised.  First  and  last,  a  really  considerable  num- 
ber of  whites  have  perished  in  the  Gilberts,  chiefly 
through  their  ou'n  misconduct;  and  the  natives  have 
displayed  in  at  least  one  instance  a  disposition  to  con- 
ceal an  accident  under  a  butchery,  and  leave  nothing 
but  dumb  bones.  This  last  was  the  chief  consideration 
against  a  sudden  closing  of  the  bars;  the  bar-keepers 
stood  in  the  immediate  breach  and  dealt  direct  with 
madmen;  too  surly  a  refusal  might  at  any  moment  pre- 
cipitate a  blow,  and  the  blow  might  prove  the  signal 
for  a  massacre. 

Monday,  i^th. —  At  the  same  hour  we  returned  to  the 
same  maniap*.  Kiimmel  (of  all  drinks)  was  served  in 
tumblers;  in  the  midst  sat  the  crown  prince,  a  fatted 
youth,  surrounded  by  fresh  bottles  and  busily  plying 
the  corkscrew;  and  king,  chief,  and  commons  showed 
the  loose  mouth,  the  uncertain  joints,  and  the  blurred 
and  animated  eye  of  the  early  drinker.  It  was  plain  we 
were  impatiently  expected;  the  king  retired  with  alac- 
rity to  dress,  the  guards  were  despatched  after  their 
uniforms;  and  we  were  left  to  await  the  issue  of  these 
preparations  with  a  shedful  of  tipsy  natives.  The  orgie 
had  proceeded  further  than  on  Sunday.  The  day  prom- 
ised to  be  of  great  heat;  it  was  already  sultry,  the 
courtiers  were  already  fuddled;  and  still  the  kiimmel 
continued  to  go  round,  and  the  crown  prince  to  play 
butler.  Flemish  freedom  followed  upon  Flemish  ex- 
cess ;  and  a  funny  dog,  a  handsome  fellow,  gaily  dressed, 
and  with  a  full  turban  of  frizzed  hair,  delighted  the 
company  with  a  humorous  courtship  of  a  lady  in  a  man- 
ner not  to  be  described.  It  was  our  diversion,  in  this 
time  of  waiting,  to  observe  the  gathering  of  the  guards. 

252 


A   TALE   OF   A   TAPU 

They  have  European  arms,  European  uniforms,  and  (to 
their  sorrow)  European  shoes.  We  saw  one  warrior 
(like  Mars)  in  the  article  of  being  armed;  two  men  and 
a  stalwart  woman  were  scarce  strong  enough  to  boot 
him;  and  after  a  single  appearance  on  parade  the  army 
is  crippled  for  a  week. 

At  last,  the  gates  under  the  king's  house  opened;  the 
army  issued,  one  behind  another,  with  guns  and  epau- 
lettes; the  colours  stooped  under  the  gateway ;  majesty 
followed  in  his  uniform  bedizened  with  gold  lace;  ma- 
jesty's wife  came  next  in  a  hat  and  feathers,  and  an 
ample  trained  silk  gown ;  the  royal  imps  succeeded ;  there 
stood  the  pageantry  of  Makin  marshalled  on  its  chosen 
theatre.  Dickens  might  have  told  how  serious  they 
were;  how  tipsy;  how  the  king  melted  and  streamed 
under  his  cocked  hat;  how  he  took  station  by  the 
larger  of  his  two  cannons  —  austere,  majestic,  but  not 
truly  vertical;  how  the  troops  huddled,  and  were 
straightened  out,  and  clubbed  again ;  how  they  and 
their  firelocks  raked  at  various  inclinations  like  the  masts 
of  ships;  and  how  an  amateur  photographer  reviewed, 
arrayed,  and  adjusted  them,  to  see  his  dispositions 
change  before  he  reached  the  camera. 

The  business  was  funny  to  see;  1  do  not  know  that  it 
is  graceful  to  laugh  at;  and  our  report  of  these  transac- 
tions was  received  on  our  return  with  the  shaking  of 
grave  heads. 

The  day  had  begun  ill;  eleven  hours  divided  us  from 
sunset;  and  at  any  moment,  on  the  most  trifling  chance, 
the  trouble  might  begin.  The  Wightman  compound 
was  in  a  military  sense  untenable,  commanded  on  three 
sides  by  houses  and  thick  bush  ;  the  town  was  computed 

2S3 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

to  contain  over  a  thousand  stand  of  excellent  new  arms ; 
and  retreat  to  the  ships,  in  the  case  of  an  alert,  was  a 
recourse  not  to  be  thought  of.  Our  talk  that  morning 
must  have  closely  reproduced  the  talk  in  English  garri- 
sons before  the  Sepoy  mutiny;  the  sturdy  doubt  that 
any  mischief  was  in  prospect,  the  sure  belief  that  (should 
any  come)  there  was  nothing  left  but  to  go  down  fight- 
ing, the  half  amused,  half  anxious  attitude  of  mind  in 
which  we  were  awaiting  fresh  developments. 

The  kiimmel  soon  ran  out;  we  were  scarce  returned 
before  the  king  had  followed  us  in  quest  of  more.  Mr. 
Corpse  was  now  divested  of  his  more  awful  attitude, 
the  lawless  bulk  of  him  again  encased  in  striped  pyja- 
mas; a  guardsman  brought  up  the  rear  with  his  rifle  at 
the  trail;  and  his  majesty  was  further  accompanied  by  a 
Rarotongan  whalerman  and  the  playful  courtier  with 
the  turban  of  frizzed  hair.  There  was  never  a  more 
lively  deputation.  The  whalerman  was  gapingly,  tear- 
fully tipsy;  the  courtier  walked  on  air;  the  king  himself 
was  even  sportive.  Seated  in  a  chair  in  the  Ricks' 
sitting-room,  he  bore  the  brunt  of  our  prayers  and 
menaces  unmoved.  He  was  even  rated,  plied  with 
historic  instances,  threatened  with  the  men-of-war, 
ordered  to  restore  the  tapu  on  the  spot  —  and  nothing 
in  the  least  affected  him.  It  should  be  done  to-morrow, 
he  said;  to-day  it  was  beyond  his  power,  to-day  he 
durst  not.  "  Is  that  royal  ?  "  cried  indignant  Mr.  Rick. 
No,  it  was  not  royal;  had  the  king  been  of  a  royal  char- 
acter we  should  ourselves  have  held  a  different  language ; 
and  royal  or  not,  he  had  the  best  of  the  dispute.  The 
terms  indeed  were  hardly  equal;  for  the  king  was  the 
only  man  who  could  restore  the  tapu,  but  the  Ricks 

254 


A   TALE   OF   A   TAPU 

were  not  the  only  people  who  sold  drink.  He  had  but 
to  hold  his  ground  on  the  first  question,  and  they  were 
sure  to  weaken  on  the  second.  A  little  struggle  they 
still  made  for  the  fashion's  sake;  and  then  one  exceed- 
ingly tipsy  deputation  departed,  greatly  rejoicing,  a  case 
of  brandy  wheeling  beside  them  in  a  barrow.  The  Raro- 
tongan  (whom  I  had  never  seen  before)  wrung  me  by  the 
hand  like  a  man  bound  on  a  far  voyage.  "My  dear 
frien' !  "  he  cried,  "  good-bye,  my  dear  frien' !  "  —  tears 
of  kummel  standing  in  his  eyes;  the  king  lurched  as  he 
went,  the  courtier  ambled, — a  strange  party  of  intoxi- 
cated children  to  be  intrusted  with  that  barrowful  of 
madness. 

You  could  never  say  the  town  was  quiet;  all  morning 
there  was  a  ferment  in  the  air,  an  aimless  movement  and 
congregation  of  natives  in  the  street.  But  it  was  not 
before  half-past  one  that  a  sudden  hubbub  of  voices 
called  us  from  the  house,  to  find  the  whole  white  colony 
already  gathered  on  the  spot  as  by  concerted  signal. 
The  Sans  Sonet  was  overrun  with  rabble,  the  stair  and 
verandah  thronged.  From  all  these  throats  an  inarticu- 
late babbling  cry  went  up  incessantly ;  it  sounded  like 
the  bleating  of  young  lambs,  but  angrier.  In  the  road 
his  royal  highness  (whom  I  had  seen  so  lately  in  the 
part  of  butler)  stood  crying  upon  Tom;  on  the  top  step, 
tossed  in  the  hurly-burly,  Tom  was  shouting  to  the 
prince.  Yet  a  while  the  pack  swayed  about  the  bar, 
vociferous.  Then  came  a  brutal  impulse;  the  mob 
reeled,  and  returned  and  was  rejected;  the  stair  showed 
a  stream  of  heads;  and  there  shot  into  view,  through 
the  disbanding  ranks,  three  men  violently  dragging  in 
their  midst  a  fourth.     By  his  hair  and  his  hands,  his 

255 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

head  forced  as  low  as  his  knees,  his  face  concealed,  he 
was  wrenched  from  the  verandah  and  whisked  along 
the  road  into  the  village,  howling  as  he  disappeared. 
Had  his  face  been  raised,  we  should  have  seen  it 
bloodied,  and  the  blood  was  not  his  own.  The  courtier 
with  the  turban  of  frizzed  hair  had  paid  the  costs  of  this 
disturbance  with  the  lower  part  of  one  ear. 

So  the  brawl  passed  with  no  other  casualty  than 
might  seem  comic  to  the  inhumane.  Yet  we  looked 
round  on  serious  faces  and  —  a  fact  that  spoke  volumes 
— -Tom  was  putting  up  the  shutters  on  the  bar.  Cus- 
tom might  go  elsewhither,  Mr.  Williams  might  profit 
as  he  pleased,  but  Tom  had  had  enough  of  bar-keeping 
for  that  day.  Indeed  the  event  had  hung  on  a  hair.  A 
man  had  sought  to  draw  a  revolver  —  on  what  quarrel 
I  could  never  learn,  and  perhaps  he  himself  could  not 
have  told ;  one  shot,  when  the  room  was  so  crowded, 
could  scarce  have  failed  to  take  effect;  where  many 
were  armed  and  all  tipsy,  it  could  scarce  have  failed  to 
draw  others;  and  the  woman  who  spied  the  weapon 
and  the  man  who  seized  it  may  very  well  have  saved 
the  white  community. 

The  mob  insensibly  melted  from  the  scene;  and  for 
the  rest  of  the  day  our  neighbourhood  was  left  in  peace 
and  a  good  deal  in  solitude.  But  the  tranquillity  was  only 
local;  din  and  perandi  still  flowed  in  other  quarters; 
and  we  had  one  more  sight  of  Gilbert  Island  violence. 
In  the  church,  where  we  had  wandered  photograph- 
ing, we  were  startled  by  a  sudden  piercing  outcry. 
The  scene,  looking  forth  from  the  doors  of  that  great 
hall  of  shadow,  was  unforgettable.  The  palms,  the 
quaint  and   scattered   houses,   the   flag   of  the   island 

256 


A   TALE   OF   A    TAPU 

streaming  from  its  tall  staff,  glowed  with  intolerable 
sunshine.  In  the  midst  two  women  rolled  fighting  on 
the  grass.  The  combatants  were  the  more  easy  to  be 
distinguished,  because  the  one  was  stripped  to  the  ridi 
and  the  other  wore  a  holoku  (sacque)  of  some  lively 
colour.  The  first  was  uppermost,  her  teeth  locked  in 
her  adversary's  face,  shaking  her  like  a  dog;  the  other 
im potently  fought  and  scratched.  So  for  a  moment  v/e 
saw  them  wallow  and  grapple  there  like  vermin ;  then 
the  mob  closed  and  shut  them  in. 

It  was  a  serious  question  that  night  if  we  should  sleep 
ashore.  But  we  were  travellers,  folk  that  had  come 
far  in  quest  of  the  adventurous;  on  the  first  sign  of  an 
adventure  it  would  have  been  a  singular  inconsistency 
to  have  withdrawn ;  and  we  sent  on  board  instead  for 
our  revolvers.  Mindful  of  Taahauku,  Mr.  Rick,  Mr.  Os- 
bourne,  and  Mrs.  Stevenson  held  an  assault  of  arms  on 
the  public  highway,  and  fired  at  bottles  to  the  admira- 
tion of  the  natives.  Captain  Reid  of  the  Equator  stayed 
on  shore  with  us  to  be  at  hand  in  case  of  trouble,  and 
we  retired  to  bed  at  the  accustomed  hour,  agreeably  ex- 
cited by  the  day's  events.  The  night  was  exquisite, 
the  silence  enchanting;  yet  as  I  lay  in  my  hammock 
looking  on  the  strong  moonshine  and  the  quiescent 
palms,  one  ugly  picture  haunted  me  of  the  two  women, 
the  naked  and  the  clad,  locked  in  that  hostile  embrace. 
The  harm  done  was  probably  not  much,  yet  I  could 
have  looked  on  death  and  massacre  with  less  revolt. 
The  return  to  these  primeval  weapons,  the  vision  of 
man's  beastliness,  of  his  ferality,  shocked  in  me  a  deeper 
sense  than  that  with  which  we  count  the  cost  of  battles. 
There  are  elements  in  our  state  and  history  which  it  is 

257 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

a  pleasure  to  forget,  which  it  is  perhaps  the  better  wis- 
dom not  to  dwell  on.  Crime,  pestilence,  and  death  are 
in  the  day's  work;  the  imagination  readily  accepts 
them.  It  instinctively  rejects,  on  the  contrary,  what- 
ever shall  call  up  the  image  of  our  race  upon  its  lowest 
terms,  as  the  partner  of  beasts,  beastly  itself,  dwelling 
pell-mell  and  hugger-mugger,  hairy  man  with  hairy 
woman,  in  the  caves  of  old.  And  yet  to  be  just  to  bar- 
barous islanders  we  must  not  forget  the  slums  and  dens 
of  our  cities:  1  must  not  forget  that  I  have  passed  din- 
nerward  through  Soho,  and  seen  that  which  cured  me 
of  my  dinner. 


258 


4 

CHAPTER   V 

A  TALE  OF  A  TAPU  —  continued 

Tuesday,  July  i6. — It  rained  in  the  night,  sudden  and 
loud,  in  Gilbert  Island  fashion.  Before  the  day,  the 
crowing  of  a  cock  aroused  me  and  I  wandered  in  the 
compound  and  along  the  street.  The  squall  was  blown 
by,  the  moon  shone  with  incomparable  lustre,  the  air 
lay  dead  as  in  a  room,  and  yet  all  the  isle  sounded  as 
under  a  strong  shower,  the  eaves  thickly  pattering,  the 
lofty  palms  dripping  at  larger  intervals  and  with  a  louder 
note.  In  this  bold  nocturnal  light  the  interior  of  the 
houses  lay  inscrutable,  one  lump  of  blackness,  save 
when  the  moon  glinted  under  the  roof,  and  made  a  belt 
of  silver,  and  drew  the  slanting  shadows  of  the  pillars 
on  the  floor.  Nowhere  in  all  the  town  was  any  lamp 
or  ember;  not  a  creature  stirred;  I  thought  I  was  alone 
to  be  awake;  but  the  police  were  faithful  to  their  duty; 
secretly  vigilant,  keeping  account  of  time;  and  a  little 
later,  the  watchman  struck  slowly  and  repeatedly  on 
the  cathedral  bell;  four  o'clock,  the  warning  signal.  It 
seemed  strange  that,  in  a  town  resigned  to  drunkenness 
and  tumult,  curfew  and  reveille  should  still  be  sounded 
and  still  obeyed. 

The  day  came,  and  brought  little  change.  The  place 
still  lay  silent;  the  people  slept,  the  town  slept.     Even 

259 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

the  few  who  were  awake,  mostly  women  and  children, 
held  their  peace  and  kept  within  under  the  strong 
shadow  of  the  thatch,  where  you  must  stop  and  peer  tc 
see  them.  Through  the  deserted  streets,  and  past  the 
sleeping  houses,  a  deputation  took  its  way  at  an  early 
hour  to  the  palace;  the  king  was  suddenly  awakened, 
and  must  listen  (probably  with  a  headache)  to  unpala- 
table truths.  Mrs.  Rick,  being  a  sufficient  mistress  of 
that  difficult  tongue,  was  spokeswoman;  she  explained 
to  the  sick  monarch  that  I  was  an  intimate  personal 
friend  of  Queen  Victoria's;  that  immediately  on  my  re- 
turn I  should  make  her  a  report  upon  Butaritari;  and 
that  if  my  house  should  have  been  again  invaded  by 
natives,  a  man-of-war  would  be  despatched  to  make 
reprisals.  It  was  scarce  the  fact  —  rather  a  just  and 
necessary  parable  of  the  fact,  corrected  for  latitude;  and 
it  certainly  told  upon  the  king.  He  was  much  affected ; 
he  had  conceived  the  notion  (he  said)  that  I  was  a  man 
of  some  importance,  but  not  dreamed  it  was  as  bad  as 
this;  and  the  missionary  house  was  tapu'd  under  a  fine 
of  fifty  dollars. 

So  much  was  announced  on  the  return  of  the  depu- 
tation ;  not  any  more ;  and  1  gathered  subsequently  that 
much  more  had  passed.  The  protection  gained  was 
welcome.  It  had  been  the  most  annoying  and  not  the 
least  alarming  feature  of  the  day  before,  that  our  house 
was  periodically  filled  with  tipsy  natives,  twenty  or 
thirty  at  a  time,  begging  drink,  fingering  our  goods, 
hard  to  be  dislodged,  awkward  to  quarrel  with.  Queen 
Victoria's  friend  (who  was  soon  promoted  to  be  her 
son)  was  free  from  these  intrusions.  Not  only  my 
house,  but  my  neighbourhood  as  well,  was  left  in  peace; 

260 


A    TALE   OF   A    TAPU 

even  on  our  walks  abroad  we  were  guarded  and  pre- 
pared for;  and,  like  great  persons  visiting  a  hospital, 
saw  only  the  fair  side.  For  the  matter  of  a  week  we 
were  thus  suffered  to  go  out  and  in  and  live  in  a  fool's 
paradise,  supposing  the  king  to  have  kept  his  word, 
the  tapu  to  be  revived  and  the  island  once  more  sober. 

Tuesday,  July  23. — We  dined  under  a  bare  trellis 
erected  for  the  Fourth  of  July;  and  here  we  used  to  lin- 
ger by  lamplight  over  coffee  and  tobacco.  In  that  cli- 
mate evening  approaches  without  sensible  chill;  the 
wind  dies  out  before  sunset;  heaven  glows  a  while  and 
fades,  and  darkens  into  the  blueness  of  the  tropical 
night;  swiftly  and  insensibly  the  shadows  thicken,  the 
stars  multiply  their  number;  you  look  around  you  and 
the  day  is  gone.  It  was  then  that  we  would  see  our 
Chinaman  draw  near  across  the  compound  in  a  lurch- 
ing sphere  of  light,  divided  by  his  shadows;  and  with 
the  coming  of  the  lamp  the  night  closed  about  the  table. 
The  faces  of  the  company,  the  spars  of  the  trellis,  stood 
out  suddenly  bright  on  a  ground  of  blue  and  silver, 
faintly  designed  with  palm-tops  and  the  peaked  roofs 
of  houses.  Here  and  there  the  gloss  upon  a  leaf,  or  the 
fracture  of  a  stone,  returned  an  isolated  sparkle.  All 
else  had  vanished.  We  hung  there,  illuminated  like  a 
galaxy  of  stars  in  vacuo;  we  sat,  manifest  and  blind, 
amid  the  general  ambush  of  the  darkness;  and  the 
islanders,  passing  with  light  footfalls  and  low  voices  in 
the  sand  of  the  road,  lingered  to  observe  us,  unseen. 

On  Tuesday  the  dusk  had  fallen,  the  lamp  had  just 
been  brought,  when  a  missile  struck  the  table  with  a 
rattling  smack  and  rebounded  past  my  ear.  Three 
inches  to  one  side  and  this  page  had  never  been  writ- 

261 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

ten ;  for  the  thing  travelled  like  a  cannon  ball.  It  was 
supposed  at  the  time  to  be  a  nut,  though  even  at  the 
time  1  thought  it  seemed  a  small  one  and  fell  strangely, 

Wednesday,  July  24.  — The  dusk  had  fallen  once 
more,  and  the  lamp  been  just  brought  out,  when  the 
same  business  was  repeated.  And  again  the  missile 
whistled  past  my  ear.  One  nut  1  had  been  willing  to 
accept;  a  second,  I  rejected  utterly,  A  cocoa-nut  does 
not  come  slinging  along  on  a  windless  evening,  making 
an  angle  of  about  fifteen  degrees  with  the  horizon; 
cocoa-nuts  do  not  fall  on  successive  nights  at  the  same 
hour  and  spot;  in  both  cases,  besides,  a  specific  mo- 
ment seemed  to  have  been  chosen,  that  when  the  lamp 
was  just  carried  out,  a  specific  person  threatened,  and 
that  the  head  of  the  family.  I  may  have  been  right  or 
wrong,  but  I  believed  1  was  the  mark  of  some  intimi- 
dation; believed  the  missile  was  a  stone,  aimed  not  to 
hit,  but  to  frighten. 

No  idea  makes  a  man  more  angry,  I  ran  into  the 
road,  where  the  natives  were  as  usual  promenading  in 
the  dark;  Maka  joined  me  with  a  lantern;  and  I  ran 
from  one  to  another,  glared  in  quite  innocent  faces,  put 
useless  questions,  and  proffered  idle  threats.  Thence 
I  carried  my  wrath  (which  was  worthy  the  son  of  any 
queen  in  history)  to  the  Ricks,  They  heard  me  with 
depression,  assured  me  this  trick  of  throwing  a  stone 
into  a  family  dinner  was  not  new;  that  it  meant  mis- 
chief, and  was  of  a  piece  with  the  alarming  disposition 
of  the  natives.  And  then  the  truth,  so  long  concealed 
from  us,  came  out.  The  king  had  broken  his  promise, 
he  had  defied  the  deputation;  the  tapu  was  still  dor- 
mant, The  Land  ive  Live  in  still  selling  drink,  and  that 

262 


A   TALE   OF   A   TAPb' 

quarter  of  the  town  disturbed  and  menaced  by  per- 
petual broils.  But  there  was  worse  ahead :  a  feast  was 
now  preparing  for  the  birthday  of  the  little  princess; 
and  the  tributary  chiefs  of  Kuma  and  Little  Makin  were 
expected  daily.  Strong  in  a  following  of  numerous 
and  somewhat  savage  clansmen,  each  of  these  was  be- 
lieved, like  a  Douglas  of  old,  to  be  of  doubtful  loyalty. 
Kuma  (a  little  pot-bellied  fellow)  never  visited  the  pal- 
ace, never  entered  the  town,  but  sat  on  the  beach  on  a 
mat,  his  gun  across  his  knees,  parading  his  mistrust 
and  scorn;  Karaiti  of  Makin,  although  he  was  more 
bold,  was  not  supposed  to  be  more  friendly;  and  not 
only  were  these  vassals  jealous  of  the  throne,  but  the 
followers  on  either  side  shared  in  the  animosity.  Brawls 
had  already  taken  place;  blows  had  passed  which 
might  at  any  moment  be  repaid  in  blood.  Some  of  the 
strangers  were  already  here  and  already  drinking;  if 
the  debauch  continued  after  the  bulk  of  them  had  come, 
a  collision,  perhaps  a  revolution,  was  to  be  expected. 

The  sale  of  drink  is  in  this  group  a  measure  of  the 
jealousy  of  traders;  one  begins,  the  others  are  con- 
strained to  follow;  and  to  him  who  has  the  most  gin, 
and  sells  it  the  most  recklessly,  the  lion's  share  of  copra 
is  assured.  It  is  felt  by  all  to  be  an  extreme  expedient, 
neither  safe,  decent,  nor  dignified.  A  trader  on  Tarawa, 
heated  by  an  eager  rivalry,  brought  many  cases  of  gin. 
He  told  me  he  sat  afterwards  day  and  night  in  his  house 
till  it  was  finished,  not  daring  to  arrest  the  sale,  not 
venturing  to  go  forth,  the  bush  all  round  him  filled 
with  howling  drunkards.  At  night,  above  all,  when 
he  was  afraid  to  sleep,  and  heard  shots  and  voices  about 
him  in  the  darkness,  his  remorse  was  black. 

263 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

"My  God!"  he  reflected,  "  if  I  was  to  lose  my  life 
on  such  a  wretched  business!  "  Often  and  often,  in  the 
story  of  the  Gilberts,  this  scene  has  been  repeated;  and 
the  remorseful  trader  sat  beside  his  lamp,  longing  for 
the  day.  listening  with  agony  for  the  sound  of  murder, 
registering  resolutions  for  the  future.  For  the  business 
is  easy  to  begin,  but  hazardous  to  stop.  The  natives 
are  in  their  way  a  just  and  law-abiding  people,  mindful 
of  their  debts,  docile  to  the  voice  of  their  own  institu- 
tions; when  the  tapu  is  re-enforced  they  will  cease 
drinking;  but  the  white  who  seeks  to  antedate  the 
movement  by  refusing  liquor  does  so  at  his  peril. 

Hence,  in  some  degree,  the  anxiety  and  helplessness 
of  Mr.  Rick.  He  and  Tom,  alarmed  by  the  rabblement 
of  the  Sails  Soiici,  had  stopped  the  sale;  they  had  done 
so  without  danger,  because  The  Land  ire  Live  in  still 
continued  selling;  it  was  claimed,  besides,  that  they  had 
been  the  first  to  begin.  What  step  could  be  taken  } 
Could  Mr.  Rick  visit  Mr.  Muller  (with  whom  he  was 
not  on  terms)  and  address  him  thus:  "I  was  getting 
ahead  of  you,  now  you  are  getting  ahead  of  me,  and  I 
ask  you  to  forego  your  profit.  I  got  my  place  closed  in 
safety,  thanks  to  your  continuing;  but  now  I  think  you 
have  continued  long  enough.  I  begin  to  be  alarmed; 
and  because  I  am  afraid  I  ask  you  to  confront  a  certain 
danger "  }  It  was  not  to  be  thought  of  Something 
else  had  to  be  found;  and  there  was  one  person  at  one 
end  of  the  town  who  was  at  least  not  interested  in  copra. 
There  was  little  else  to  be  said  in  favour  of  myself  as  an 
ambassador.  I  had  arrived  in  the  Wightman  schooner, 
I  was  living  in  the  Wightman  compound,  I  was  the 
daily  associate  of  the  Wightman  coterie.     It  was  egre- 

264 


A   TALE   OF   A   TAPU 

gious  enough  that  I  should  now  intrude  unasked  in  the 
private  affiiirs  of  Crawford's  agent,  and  press  upon  him 
the  sacrifice  of  his  interests  and  the  venture  of  his  life. 
But  bad  as  I  might  be,  there  was  none  better;  since  the 
affair  of  the  stone  I  was,  besides,  sharp-set  to  be  doing, 
the  idea  of  a  delicate  interview  attracted  me,  and  I 
thought  it  policy  to  show  myself  abroad. 

The  night  was  very  dark.  There  was  service  in  the 
church,  and  the  building  glimmered  through  all  its 
crevices  like  a  dim  Kirk  Allowa'.  I  saw  few  other 
lights,  but  was  indistinctly  aware  of  many  people  stir- 
ring in  the  darkness,  and  a  hum  and  sputter  of  low  talk 
that  sounded  stealthy.  I  believe  (in  the  old  phrase)  my 
beard  was  sometimes  on  my  shoulder  as  1  went.  Mul- 
ler's  was  but  partly  lighted,  and  quite  silent,  and  the 
gate  was  fastened.  I  could  by  no  means  manage  to 
undo  the  latch.  No  wonder,  since  I  found  it  afterwards 
to  be  four  or  five  feet  long  —  a  fortification  in  itself.  As 
1  still  fumbled,  a  dog  came  on  the  inside  and  snuffed 
suspiciously  at  my  hands,  so  that  I  was  reduced  to  call- 
ing, "House  ahoy!"  Mr.  Muller  came  down  and  put 
his  chin  across  the  paling  in  the  dark.  "Who  is  that  ?  " 
said  he,  like  one  who  has  no  mind  to  welcome  stran- 
gers. 

"  My  name  is  Stevenson,"  said  I. 

"O,  Mr.  Stevens!  I  didn't  know  you.  Come  in- 
side." 

We  stepped  into  the  dark  store,  when  I  leaned  upon 
the  counter  and  he  against  the  wall.  All  the  light  came 
from  the  sleeping-room,  where  I  saw  his  family  being 
put  to  bed;  it  struck  full  in  my  face,  but  Mr.  Muller 
stood  in  shadow.     No  doubt  he  expected  what  was 

265 


THE  SOUTH  SEAS 

coming,  and  sought  the  advantage  of  position;  but  for 
a  man  who  wished  to  persuade  and  had  nothing  to 
conceal,  mine  was  the  preferable. 

"  Look  here,"  I  began,  "  I  hear  you  are  selling  to  the 
natives," 

"Others  have  done  that  before  me,"  he  returned 
pointedly. 

"No  doubt,"  said  I,  "and  I  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  past,  but  the  future.  1  want  you  to  promise  you 
will  handle  these  spirits  carefully." 

"Now  what  is  your  motive  in  this  ?"  he  asked,  and 
then,  with  a  sneer,  "Are  you  afraid  of  your  life.^" 

"That  is  nothing  to  the  purpose,"  I  replied.  "I 
know,  and  you  know,  these  spirits  ought  not  to  be  used 
at  all." 

"Tom  and  Mr.  Rick  have  sold  them  before." 

"  I  have  nothing  to  do  with  Tom  and  Mr.  Rick.  All 
I  know  is  I  have  heard  them  both  refuse." 

"No,  I  suppose  you  have  nothing  to  do  with  them. 
Then  you  are  just  afraid  of  your  life." 

"Come  now,"  I  cried,  being  perhaps  a  little  stung, 
"you  know  in  your  heart  I  am  asking  a  reasonable 
thing.  1  don't  ask  you  to  lose  your  profit  —  though  I 
would  prefer  to  see  no  spirits  brought  here,  as  you 
would " 

"  1  don't  say  1  wouldn't.  1  didn't  begin  this,"  he  in- 
terjected. 

"No,  I  don't  suppose  you  did,"  said  I.  "And  1 
don't  ask  you  to  lose ;  1  ask  you  to  give  me  your  word, 
man  to  man,  that  you  will  make  no  native  drunk." 

Up  to  now  Mr.  Muller  had  maintained  an  attitude 
very  trying  to  my  temper;  but  he  had  maintained  it 

266 


A   TALE   OF   A   TAPU 

with  difficulty,  his  sentiment  being  all  upon  my  side; 
and  here  he  changed  ground  for  the  worse.  "  It  isn't 
me  that  sells,"  said  he. 

"  No,  it's  that  nigger,"  I  agreed.  "  But  he's  yours  to 
buy  and  sell;  you  have  your  hand  on  the  nape  of  his 
neck;  and  I  ask  you  —  I  have  my  wife  here  —  to  use 
the  authority  you  have," 

He  hastily  returned  to  his  old  ward.  "  I  don't  deny 
I  could  if  I  wanted,"  said  he.  "  But  there's  no  danger, 
the  natives  are  all  quiet.  You're  just  afraid  of  your 
life." 

I  do  not  like  to  be  called  a  coward,  even  by  implica- 
tion; and  here  1  lost  my  temper  and  propounded  an 
untimely  ultimatum.  "You  had  better  put  it  plain,"  I 
cried.     "  Do  you  mean  to  refuse  me  what  I  ask  ?  " 

"I  don't  want  either  to  refuse  it  or  grant  it,"  he 
replied. 

"  You'll  find  you  have  to  do  the  one  thingor  the  other, 
and  right  now  !  "  I  cried,  and  then,  striking  into  a  hap- 
pier vein,  "Come,"  said  1,  "you're  a  better  sort  than 
that.  1  see  what's  wrong  with  you  —  you  think  I  came 
from  the  opposite  camp.  I  see  the  sort  of  man  you  are, 
and  you  know  that  what  I  ask  is  right."' 

Again  he  changed  ground.  "If  the  natives  get  any 
drink,  it  isn't  safe  to  stop  them,"  he  objected. 

"I'll  be  answerable  for  the  bar,"  I  said.  "We  are 
three  men  and  four  revolvers;  we'll  come  at  a  word, 
and  hold  the  place  against  the  village." 

"You  don't  know  what  you're  talking  about;  it's 
too  dangerous!  "  he  cried. 

"  Look  here,"  said  I,  "  I  don't  mind  much  about  los- 
ing that  life  you  talk  so  much  of;  but  I  mean  to  lose  it 

267 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

the  way  I  wnnt  to,  and  that  is,  putting  a  stop  to  all 
this  beastliness." 

He  talked  a  while  about  his  duty  to  the  firm ;  I  minded 
not  at  all,  I  was  secure  of  victory.  He  was  but  waiting 
to  capitulate,  and  looked  about  for  any  potent  to  relieve 
the  strain.  In  the  gush  of  light  from  the  bedroom  door 
1  spied  a  cigar-holder  on  the  desk.  "That  is  well 
coloured,"  said  I. 

"  Will  you  take  a  cigar  ?  "  said  he. 

I  took  it  and  held  it  up  unlighted.  "Now,"  said  I, 
"  you  promise  me." 

"  I  promise  you  you  won't  have  any  trouble  from  na- 
tives that  have  drunk  at  my  place,"  he  replied. 

"  That  is  all  I  ask,"  said  I,  and  showed  it  was  not  by 
immediately  offering  to  try  his  stock. 

So  far  as  it  was  anyway  critical  our  interview  here 
ended.  Mr.  Muller  had  thenceforth  ceased  to  regard  me 
as  an  emissary  from  his  rivals,  dropped  his  defensive  at- 
titude, and  spoke  as  he  believed.  I  could  make  out  that 
he  would  already,  had  he  dared,  have  stopped  the  sale 
himself.  Not  quite  daring,  it  may  be  imagined  how  he 
resented  the  idea  of  interference  from  those  who  had  (by 
his  own  statement)  first  led  him  on,  then  deserted  him 
in  the  breach,  and  now  (sitting  themselves  in  safety) 
egged  him  on  to  a  new  peril,  which  was  all  gain  to 
them,  all  loss  to  him.  I  asked  him  what  he  thought  of 
the  danger  from  the  feast. 

"  I  think  worse  of  it  than  any  of  you,"  he  answered. 
"They  were  shooting  around  here  last  night,  and  1 
heard  the  balls  too.  1  said  to  myself,  'That's  bad.' 
What  gets  me  is  why  you  should  be  making  this  row 
up  at  your  end.     I  should  be  the  first  to  go." 

208 


A   TALE   OF   A    TAPU 

It  was  a  thoughtless  wonder.  The  consolation  of 
being  second  is  not  great;  the  fact,  not  the  order  of  go- 
ing—  there  was  our  concern. 

Scott  talks  moderately  of  looking  forward  to  a  time 
of  fighting  "with  a  feeling  that  resembled  pleasure." 
The  resemblance  seems  rather  an  identity.  In  modern 
life,  contact  is  ended;  man  grows  impatient  of  endless 
manoeuvres;  and  to  approach  the  fact,  to  find  ourselves 
wjiere  we  can  push  our  advantage  home,  and  stand  a 
fiiir  risk,  and  see  at  last  what  we  are  made  of,  stirs  the 
blood.  It  was  so  at  least  with  all  my  fiimily,  who  bub- 
bled with  delight  at  the  approach  of  trouble;  and  we 
sat  deep  into  the  night  like  a  pack  of  schoolboys,  pre- 
paring the  revolvers  and  arranging  plans  against  the 
morrow.  It  promised  certainly  to  be  a  busy  and  event- 
ful day.  '  The  Old  Men  were  to  be  summoned  to  con- 
front me  on  the  question  of  the  tapu;  Muller  might  call 
us  at  any  moment  to  garrison  his  bar;  and  suppose 
Muller  to  fail,  we  decided  in  a  family  council  to  take 
that  matter  into  our  own  hands,  Th:  Landive  Live  in  at 
the  pistol's  mouth,  and  with  the  polysyllabic  Williams, 
dance  to  a  new  tune.  As  I  recall  our  humour,  T  think 
it  would  have  gone  hard  with  the  mulatto. 

Wednesday,  July  24. —  It  was  as  well,  and  yet  it  was 
disappointing  that  these  thunder-clouds  rolled  off  in  si- 
lence. Whether  the  Old  Men  recoiled  from  an  interview 
with  Queen  Victoria's  son,  whether  Muller  had  secretly 
intervened,  orwhether  the  step  flowed  naturally  from  the 
fears  of  the  king  and  the  nearness  of  the  feast,  the  tapu 
was  early  that  morning  re-enforced ;  not  a  day  too  soon, 
from  the  manner  the  boats  began  toarrive  thickly,  and  the 
town  was  filled  with  the  big  rowdy  vassals  of  Karaiti. 

2t>0 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

The  effect  lingered  for  some  time  on  the  minds  of  the 
traders;  it  was  with  the  approval  of  all  present  that  I 
helped  to  draw  up  a  petition  to  the  United  States,  pray- 
ing for  a  law  against  the  liquor  trade  in  the  Gilberts; 
and  it  was  at  this  request  that  I  added,  under  my  own 
name,  a  brief  testimony  of  what  had  passed ;  —  useless 
pains;  since  the  whole  reposes,  probably  unread  and 
possibly  unopened,  in  a  pigeon-hole  at  Washington. 

Sunday,  July  28. —  This  day  we  had  the  afterpiece  of 
the  debauch.  The  king  and  queen,  in  European  clothes, 
and  followed  by  armed  guards,  attended  church  for  the 
first  time,  and  sat  perched  aloft  in  a  precarious  dignity 
under  the  barrel-hoops.  Before  sermon  his  majesty 
clambered  from  the  dais,  stood  lopsidedly  upon  the 
gravel  floor,  and  in  a  few  words  abjured  drinking.  The 
queen  followed  suit  with  a  yet  briefer  allocution.  All 
the  men  in  church  were  next  addressed  in  turn;  each 
held  up  his  right  hand,  and  the  affair  was  over  —  throne 
and  church  were  reconciled. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE   FIVE   days'    FESTIVAL 

Thursday,  July  2^th. —  The  street  was  this  day  much 
enlivened  by  the  presence  of  the  men  from  Little  Makin ; 
they  average  taller  than  Butaritarians,  and,  being  on  a 
holiday,  went  wreathed  with  yellow  leaves  and  gorgeous 
in  vivid  colours.  They  are  said  to  be  more  savage,  and 
to  be  proud  of  the  distinction.  Indeed,  it  seemed  to  us 
they  swaggered  in  the  town,  like  plaided  Highlanders 
upon  the  streets  of  Inverness,  conscious  of  barbaric  vir- 
tues. 

In  the  afternoon  the  summer  parlour  was  observed  to 
be  packed  with  people;  others  standing  outside  and 
stooping  to  peer  under  the  eaves,  like  children  at  home 
about  a  circus.  It  was  the  Makin  company,  rehearsing 
for  the  day  of  competition.  Karaiti  sat  in  the  front  row 
close  to  the  singers,  where  we  were  summoned  (I  sup- 
pose in  honour  of  Queen  Victoria)  to  join  him.  A 
strong  breathless  heat  reigned  under  the  iron  roof, and  the 
air  was  heavy  with  the  scent  of  wreaths.  The  singers, 
with  fine  mats  about  their  loins,  cocoa-nut  feathers  set 
in  rings  upon  their  fingers,  and  their  heads  crowned  with 
yellow  leaves,  sat  on  the  floor  by  companies.  A  vary- 
ing number  of  soloists  stood  up  for  different  songs;  and 
these  bore  the  chief  part  in  the  music.     But  the  full  force 

271 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

of  the  companies,  even  when  not  singing,  contributed 
continuously  to  the  effect,  and  marked  the  ictus  of  the 
measure,  mimicking,  grimacing,  casting  up  their  heads 
and  eyes,  fluttering  the  feathers  on  their  fingers,  clapping 
hands,  or  beating  (loud  as  a  kettle-drum)  on  the  left 
breast;  the  time  was  exquisite,  the  music  barbarous,  but 
full  of  conscious  art.  1  noted  some  devices  constantly 
employed.  A  sudden  change  would  be  introduced  (I 
think  of  key)  with  no  break  of  the  measure,  but  empha- 
sised by  a  sudden  dramatic  heightening  of  the  voice 
and  a  swinging,  general  gesticulation.  The  voices  of 
the  soloists  would  begin  far  apart  in  a  rude  discord,  and 
gradually  draw  together  to  a  unison;  which,  when  they 
had  reached,  they  were  joined  and  drowned  by  the  full 
chorus.  The  ordinary,  hurried,  barking,  unmelodious 
movement  of  the  voices  would  at  times  be  broken  and 
glorified  by  a  psalm-like  strain  of  melody,  often  well 
constructed,  or  seeming  so  by  contrast.  There  was 
much  variety  of  measure,  and  towards  the  end  of  each 
piece,  when  the  fun  became  fast  and  furious,  a  recourse 
to  this  figure  — 


It  is  difficult  to  conceive  what  fire  and  devilry  they  get 
into  these  hammering  finales;  all  go  together,  voices, 
hands,  eyes,  leaves,  and  fluttering  finger-rings;  the 
chorus  swings  to  the  eye,  the  song  throbs  on  the  ear; 
the  faces  are  convulsed  with  enthusiasm  and  effort. 

Presently  the  troop  stood  up  in  a  body,  the  drums 
forming  a  half-circle  for  the  soloists,  who  were  some- 

272 


THE    FIVE    DAYS'    FESTIVAL 

times  five  or  even  more  in  number.  The  songs  that 
followed  v^ere  highly  dramatic;  though  I  had  none  to 
give  me  any  explanation,  I  would  at  times  make  out 
some  shadowy  but  decisive  outline  of  a  plot;  and  1  was 
continually  reminded  of  certain  quarrelsome  concerted 
scenes  in  grand  operas  at  home ;  just  so  the  single  voices 
issue  from  and  fall  again  into  the  general  volume;  just 
so  do  the  performers  separate  and  crowd  together, 
brandish  the  raised  hand,  and  roll  the  eye  to  heaven  — 
or  the  gallery.  Already  this  is  beyond  the  Thespian 
model;  the  art  of  this  people  is  already  past  the  em- 
bryo; song,  dance,  drums,  quartette  and  solo  —  it  is 
the  drama  full  developed  although  still  in  miniature. 
Of  all  so-called  dancing  in  the  South  Seas,  that  which  I 
saw  in  Butaritari  stands  easily  the  first.  The  hitla,  as  it 
may  be  viewed  by  the  speedy  globe-trotter  in  Hono- 
lulu, is  surely  the  most  dull  of  man's  inventions,  and 
the  spectator  yawns  under  its  length  as  at  a  college  lec- 
ture or  a  parliamentary  debate.  But  the  Gilbert  Island 
dance  leads  on  the  mind;  it  thrills,  rouses,  subjugates; 
it  has  the  essence  of  all  art,  an  unexplored  imminent 
significance.  Where  so  many  are  engaged,  and  where 
all  must  make  (at  a  given  moment)  the  same  swift, 
elaborate,  and  often  arbitrary  movement,  the  toil  of  re- 
hearsal is  of  course  extreme.  But  they  begin  as  chil- 
dren. A  child  and  a  man  may  often  be  seen  together 
in  a  maniap' :  the  man  sings  and  gesticulates,  the  child 
stands  before  him  with  streaming  tears  and  tremulously 
copies  him  in  act  and  sound;  it  is  the  Gilbert  Island 
artist  learning  (as  all  artists  m.ust)  his  art  in  sorrow. 

I  may  seem  to  praise  too  much;  here  is  a  passage 
from  my  wife's  diary,  which  proves  that  I  was  not  alone 

273 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

in  being  moved,  and  completes  the  picture: — "The 
conductor  gave  the  cue,  and  all  the  dancers,  waving 
their  arms,  swaying  their  bodies,  and  clapping  their 
breasts  in  perfect  time,  opened  with  an  introductory. 
The  performers  remained  seated,  except  two,  and  once 
three,  and  twice  a  single  soloist.  These  stood  in  the 
group,  making  a  slight  movement  with  the  feet  and 
rhythmical  quiver  of  the  body  as  they  sang.  There  was 
a  pause  after  the  introductory,  and  then  the  real  busi- 
ness of  the  opera  —  for  it  was  no  less  —  began ;  an 
opera  where  every  singer  was  an  accomplished  actor. 
The  leading  man,  in  an  impassioned  ecstasy  which  pos- 
sessed him  from  head  to  foot,  seemed  transfigured; 
once  it  was  as  though  a  strong  wind  had  swept  over 
the  stage— their  arms,  their  feathered  fingers  thrilling 
with  an  emotion  that  shook  my  nerves  as  well:  heads 
and  bodies  followed  like  a  field  of  grain  before  a  gust. 
My  blood  came  hot  and  cold,  tears  pricked  my  eyes, 
my  head  whirled,  1  felt  an  almost  irresistible  impulse  to 
join  the  dancers.  One  drama,  I  think,  I  very  nearly 
understood.  A  fierce  and  savage  old  man  took  the  solo 
part.  He  sang  of  the  birth  of  a  prince,  and  how  he  was 
tenderly  rocked  in  his  mother's  arms;  of  his  boyhood, 
when  he  excelled  his  fellows  in  swimming,  climbing, 
and  all  athletic  sports;  of  his  youth,  when  he  went  out 
to  sea  with  his  boat  and  fished;  of  his  manhood,  when 
he  married  a  wife  who  cradled  a  son  of  his  own  in  her 
arms.  Then  came  the  alarm  of  war,  and  a  great  battle, 
of  which  for  a  time  the  issue  was  doubtful;  but  the 
hero  conquered,  as  he  always  does,  and  with  a  tremen- 
dous burst  of  the  victors  the  piece  closed.  There  were 
also   comic   pieces,   which   caused    great   amusement. 

274 


THE    FIVE    DAYS'    FESTIVAL 

During  one,  an  old  man  behind  me  clutched  me  by  the 
arm,  shook  his  finger  in  my  face  with  a  roguish  smile, 
and  said  something  with  a  chuckle,  which  I  took  to  be 
the  equivalent  of  '  O,  you  women,  you  u'omen;  it  is 
true  of  you  all!'  I  fear  it  was  not  complimentary.  At 
no  time  was  there  the  least  sign  of  the  ugly  indecency 
of  the  eastern  islands.  All  was  poetry  pure  and  simple. 
The  music  itself  was  as  complex  as  our  own,  though 
constructed  on  an  entirely  different  basis ;  once  or  twice 
I  was  startled  by  a  bit  of  something  very  like  the  best 
English  sacred  music,  but  it  was  only  for  an  instant. 
At  last  there  was  a  longer  pause,  and  this  time  the  dan- 
cers were  all  on  their  feet.  As  the  drama  went  on  the 
interest  grew.  The  performers  appealed  to  each  other, 
to  the  audience,  to  the  heaven  above;  they  took  coun- 
sel with  each  other,  the  conspirators  drew  together  in 
a  knot;  it  was  just  an  opera,  the  drums  coming  in  at 
proper  intervals,  the  tenor,  baritone,  and  bass  all  where 
they  should  be  —  except  that  the  voices  were  all  of  the 
same  calibre.  A  woman  once  sang  from  the  back  row 
with  a  very  fine  contralto  voice  spoilt  by  being  made 
artificially  nasal;  1  notice  all  the  women  affect  that  un- 
pleasantness. At  one  time  a  boy  of  angelic  beauty  was 
the  soloist;  and  at  another,  a  child  of  six  or  eight, 
doubtless  an  infant  phenomenon  being  trained,  was 
placed  in  the  centre.  The  little  fellow  was  desperately 
frightened  and  embarrassed  at  first,  but  towards  the 
close  warmed  up  to  his  work  and  showed  much  dra- 
matic talent.  The  changing  expressions  on  the  faces  of 
the  dancers  were  so  speaking,  that  it  seemed  a  great 
stupidity  not  to  understand  them." 

Our  neighbour  at  this  performance,   Karaiti,  some- 
275 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

what  favours  his  Butaritarian  majesty  in  shape  and  fea- 
ture, being  like  him  portly,  bearded,  and  Oriental.  In 
character  he  seems  the  reverse:  alert,  smiling,  jovial, 
jocular,  industrious.  At  home  in  his  own  island,  he 
labours  himself  like  a  slave,  and  makes  his  people  la- 
bour like  a  slave-driver.  He  takes  an  interest  in  ideas. 
George  the  trader  told  him  about  flying-machines.  "  Is 
that  true,  George?"  he  asked.  "It  is  in  the  papers," 
replied  George.  "Well,"  said  Karaiti,  "if  that  man 
can  do  it  with  machinery,  I  can  do  it  without;"  and 
he  designed  and  made  a  pair  of  wings,  strapped  them 
on  his  shoulders,  went  to  the  end  of  a  pier,  launched 
himself  into  space,  and  fell  bulkily  into  the  sea.  His 
wives  fished  him  out,  for  his  wings  hindered  him  in 
swimming.  "George,"  said  he,  pausing  as  he  went 
up  to  change,  "  George,  you  lie."  He  had  eight  wives, 
for  his  small  realm  still  follows  ancient  customs;  but 
he  showed  embarrassment  when  this  was  mentioned 
to  my  wife.  "  Tell  her  I  have  only  brought  one  here," 
he  said  anxiously.  Altogether  the  Black  Douglas 
pleased  us  much ;  and  as  we  heard  fresh  details  of  the 
king's  uneasiness,  and  saw  for  ourselves  that  all  the 
weapons  in  the  summer  parlour  had  been  hid,  we 
watched  with  the  more  admiration  the  cause  of  all  this 
anxiety  rolling  on  his  big  legs,  with  his  big  smiling 
face,  apparently  unarmed,  and  certainly  unattended, 
through  the  hostile  town.  The  Red  Douglas,  pot- 
bellied Kuma,  having  perhaps  heard  word  of  the  de- 
bauch, remained  upon  his  fief;  his  vassals  thus  came 
uncommanded  to  the  feast,  and  swelled  the  following 
of  Karaiti. 
Friday,  July  26. — At  night  in  Ihe  dark,  the  singers 


THE    FIVE    DAYS'    FESTIVAL 

of  Makin  paraded  in  the  road  before  our  house  and  sang 
the  song  of  the  pruicess.  "This  is  the  day;  she  was 
born  to-day;  Nei  Kamaunava  was  born  to-day  —  a 
beautiful  princess,  Queen  of  Butaritari."  So  I  was  told 
it  went  in  endless  iteration.  The  song  was  of  course 
out  of  season,  and  the  performance  only  a  rehearsal. 
But  it  was  a  serenade  besides;  a  delicate  attention  to 
ourselves  from  our  new  friend,  Karaiti. 

Saturday,  July  27. — We  had  announced  a  perfor- 
mance of  the  magic  lantern  to-night  in  church;  and 
this  brought  the  king  to  visit  us.  In  honour  of  the 
Black  Douglas  (1  suppose)  his  usual  two  guardsmen 
were  now  increased  to  four;  and  the  squad  made  an 
outlandish  figure  as  they  straggled  after  him,  in  straw 
hats,  kilts  and  jackets.  Three  carried  their  arms  re- 
versed, the  butts  over  their  shoulders,  the  muzzles  me- 
nacing the  king's  plump  back;  the  fourth  had  passed 
his  weapon  behind  his  neck,  and  held  it  there  with 
arms  extended  like  a  backboard.  The  visit  was  ex- 
traordinarily long.  The  king,  no  longer  galvanised 
with  gin,  said  and  did  nothing.  He  sat  collapsed  in  a 
chair  and  let  a  cigar  go  out.  It  was  hot,  it  was  sleepy, 
it  was  cruel  dull;  there  was  no  resource  but  to  spy  in 
the  countenance  of  Tebureimoa  for  some  remaining 
trait  of  Mr.  Corpse  the  butcher.  His  hawk  nose,  crudely 
depressed  and  flattened  at  the  point,  did  truly  seem  to 
us  to  smell  of  midnight  murder.  When  he  took  his 
leave,  Maka  bade  me  observe  him  going  down  the  stair 
(or  rather  ladder)  from  the  verandah.  "Old  man," 
said  Maka.  "Yes,"  said  I,  "and  yet  I  suppose  not  old 
man."  "Young  man,"  returned  Maka,  "perhaps  fo'ty." 
And  I  have  heard  since  he  is  most  likely  younger. 

277 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

While  the  magic  lantern  was  showing,  I  skulked 
without  in  the  dark.  The  voice  of  Maka,  excitedly 
explaining  the  Scripture  slides,  seemed  to  fill  not  the 
church  only,  but  the  neighbourhood.  All  else  was 
silent.  Presently  a  distant  sound  of  singing  arose  and 
approached;  and  a  procession  drew  near  along  the 
road,  the  hot  clean  smell  of  the  men  and  women  strik- 
ing in  my  face  delightfully.  At  the  corner,  arrested  by 
the  voice  of  Maka  and  the  lightening  and  darkening  of 
the  church,  they  paused.  They  had  no  mind  to  go 
nearer,  that  was  plain.  They  were  Makin  people,  I 
believe,  probably  staunch  heathens,  contemners  of  the 
missionary  and  his  works.  Of  a  sudden,  however,  a 
man  broke  from  their  company,  took  to  his  heels,  and 
fled  into  the  church ;  next  moment  three  had  followed 
him ;  the  next  it  was  a  covey  of  near  upon  a  score,  all 
pelting  for  their  lives.  So  the  little  band  of  the  heathen 
paused  irresolute  at  the  corner,  and  melted  before  the 
attractions  of  a  magic  lantern,  like  a  glacier  in  spring. 
The  more  staunch  vainly  taunted  the  deserters;  three 
fled  in  a  guilty  silence,  but  still  fled;  and  when  at 
length  the  leader  found  the  wit  or  the  authority  to 
get  his  troop  in  motion  and  revive  the  singing,  it  was 
with  much  diminished  forces  that  they  passed  musi- 
cally on  up  the  dark  road. 

Meanwhile  inside  the  luminous  pictures  brightened 
and  faded.  I  stood  for  some  while  unobserved  in  the 
rear  of  the  spectators,  when  I  could  hear  just  in  front 
of  me  a  pair  of  lovers  following  the  show  with  interest, 
the  male  playing  the  part  of  interpreter  and  (like  Adam) 
mingling  caresses  with  his  lecture.  The  wild  animals, 
a  tiger  in  particular,  and  that  old  school-treat  favourite, 

278 


THE    FIVE    DAYS'    FESTIVAL 

the  sleeper  and  the  mouse,  were  hailed  with  joy;  but 
the  chief  marvel  and  delight  was  in  the  gospel  series. 
Maka,  in  the  opinion  of  his  aggrieved  wife,  did  not 
properly  rise  to  the  occasion.  "What  is  the  matter 
with  the  man  ?  Why  can't  he  talk  ?  "  she  cried.  The 
matter  with  the  man,  1  think,  was  the  greatness  of  the 
opportunity;  he  reeled  under  his  good  fortune;  and 
whether  he  did  ill  or  well,  the  exposure  of  these  pious 
"  phantoms"  did  as  a  matter  of  flict  silence  in  all  that 
part  of  the  island  the  voice  of  the  scoffer.  "Why 
then,"  the  word  went  round,  "why  then,  the  Bible  is 
true! "  And  on  our  return  afterwards  we  were  told  the 
impression  was  yet  lively,  and  those  who  had  seen 
might  be  heard  telling  those  who  had  not,  "O  yes,  it 
is  all  true;  these  things  all  happened,  we  have  seen  the 
pictures."  The  argument  is  not  so  childish  as  it  seems; 
for  I  doubt  if  these  islanders  are  acquainted  with  any 
other  mode  of  representation  but  photography;  so  that 
the  picture  of  an  event  (on  the  old  melodrama  principle 
that  "the  camera  cannot  lie,  Joseph,")  would  appear 
strong  proof  of  its  occurrence.  The  fact  amused  us  the 
more  because  our  slides  were  some  of  them  ludicrously 
silly,  and  one  (Christ  before  Pilate)  was  received  with 
shouts  of  merriment,  in  which  even  Maka  was  con- 
strained to  join. 

Sunday,  July  28. —  Karaiti  came  to  ask  for  a  repetition 
of  the  "phantoms"  —  this  was  the  accepted  word  — 
and,  having  received  a  promise,  turned  and  left  my 
humble  roof  without  the  shadow  of  a  salutation.  I  felt 
it  impolitic  to  have  the  least  appearance  of  pocketing  a 
slight;  the  times  have  been  too  difficult,  and  were  still 
too  doubtful;  and  Queen  Victoria's  son  was  bound  to 

379 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

maintain  the  honour  of  his  house.  Karaiti  was  accord- 
ingly summoned  that  evening  to  the  Ricks,  where  Mrs. 
Rick  fell  foul  of  him  in  words,  and  Queen  Victoria's  son 
assailed  him  with  indignant  looks.  I  was  the  ass  with 
the  lion's  skin;  I  could  not  roar  in  the  language  of  the 
Gilbert  Islands;  but  I  could  stare.  Karaiti  declared  he 
had  meant  no  offence;  apologised  in  a  sound,  hearty, 
gentlemanly  manner;  and  became  at  once  at  his  ease. 
He  had  in  a  dagger  to  examine,  and  announced  he 
would  come  to  price  it  on  the  morrow,  to-day  being 
Sunday;  this  nicety  in  a  heathen  with  eight  wives  sur- 
prised me.  The  dagger  was  "good  for  killing  fish," 
he  said  roguishly;  and  was  supposed  to  have  his  eye 
upon  fish  upon  two  legs.  It  is  at  least  odd  that  in 
Eastern  Polynesia  fish  was  the  accepted  euphemism  for 
the  human  sacrifice.  Asked  as  to  the  population  of  his 
island,  Karaiti  called  out  to  his  vassals  who  sat  waiting 
him  outside  the  door,  and  they  put  it  at  four  hundred 
and  fifty;  but  (added  Karaiti  jovially)  there  will  soon 
be  plenty  more,  for  all  the  v/omen  are  in  the  family  way. 
Long  before  we  separated  I  had  quite  forgotten  his  of- 
fence. He,  however,  still  bore  it  in  mind;  and  with  a 
very  courteous  inspiration  returned  early  on  the  next 
day,  paid  us  a  long  visit,  and  punctiliously  said  farewell 
when  he  departed. 

Monday,  July  29. —  The  great  day  came  round  at 
last.  In  the  first  hours  the  night  was  startled  by  the 
sound  of  clapping  hands  and  the  chant  of  Nei  Kam- 
aunava;  its  melancholy,  slow,  and  somewhat  men- 
acing measures  broken  at  intervals  by  a  formidable 
shout.  The  little  morsel  of  humanity  thus  celebrated 
in  the  dark  hours  was  observed  at  midday  playing 

280 


THE    FIVE    DAYS'    FESTIVAL 

on  the  green  entirely  naked,  and  equally  unobserved 
and  unconcerned. 

The  summer  parlour  on  its  artificial  islet,  relieved 
against  the  shimmering  lagoon,  and  shimmering  itself 
with  sun  and  tinned  iron,  was  all  day  crowded  about 
by  eager  men  and  women.  Within,  it  was  boxed  full 
of  islanders,  of  any  age  and  size,  and  in  every  degree 
of  nudity  and  finery.  So  close  we  squatted,  that  at  one 
time  I  had  a  mighty  handsome  woman  on  my  knees, 
two  little  naked  urchins  having  their  feet  against  my 
back.  There  might  be  a  dame  in  full  attire  of  holokii 
and  hat  and  flowers;  and  her  next  neighbour  might  the 
next  moment  strip  some  little  rag  of  a  shift  from  her  fat 
shoulders  and  come  out  a  monument  of  flesh,  painted 
rather  than  covered  by  the  hairbreadth  ridi.  Little  la- 
dies who  thought  themselves  too  great  to  appear  un- 
draped  upon  so  high  a  festival  were  seen  to  pause  out- 
side in  the  broad  sunshine,  their  miniature  ridis  in  their 
hand;  a  moment  more  and  they  were  full-dressed  and 
entered  the  concert-room. 

At  either  end  stood  up  to  sing,  or  sat  down  to  rest, 
the  alternate  companies  of  singers;  Kuma  and  Little 
Makin  on  the  north,  Butaritari  and  its  conjunct  hamlets 
to  the  south ;  both  groups  conspicuous  in  barbaric  bra- 
very. In  the  midst,  between  these  rival  camps  of  trou- 
badours, a  bench  was  placed;  and  here  the  king  and 
queen  throned  it,  some  two  or  three  feet  above  the 
crowded  audience  on  the  floor  —  Tebureimoa  as  usual 
in  his  striped  pyjamas  with  a  satchel  strapped  across 
one  shoulder,  doubtless  (in  the  island  fashion)  to  con- 
tain his  pistols;  the  queen  in  a  purple  holoku,  her  abun- 
dant hair  let  down,  a  fan  in  her  hand.     The  bench  was 

281 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

turned  facing  to  the  strangers,  a  piece  of  well-considered 
civility;  and  when  it  was  the  turn  of  Butaritari  to  sing, 
the  pair  must  twist  round  on  the  bench,  lean  their  el- 
bows on  the  rail,  and  turn  to  us  the  spectacle  of  their 
broad  backs.  The  royal  couple  occasionally  solaced 
themselves  with  a  clay  pipe;  and  the  pomp  of  state  was 
further  heightened  by  the  rifles  of  a  picket  of  the  guard. 
With  this  kingly  countenance,  and  ourselves  squatted 
on  the  ground,  we  heard  several  songs  from  one  side 
or  the  other.  Then  royalty  and  its  guards  withdrew, 
and  Queen  Victoria's  son  and  daughter-in-law  were 
summoned  by  acclamation  to  the  vacant  throne.  Our 
pride  was  perhaps  a  little  modified  when  we  were 
joined  on  our  high  places  by  a  certain  thriftless  loafer 
of  a  white;  and  yet  I  was  glad  too,  for  the  man  had  a 
smattering  of  native,  and  could  give  me  some  idea  of 
the  subject  of  the  songs.  One  was  patriotic,  and  dared 
Tembinok'  of  Apemama,  the  terror  of  the  group,  to  an 
invasion.  One  mixed  the  planting  of  taro  and  the  har- 
vest-home. Some  were  historical,  and  commemorated 
kings  and  the  illustrious  chances  of  their  time,  such  as 
a  bout  of  drinking  or  a  war.  One,  at  least,  was  a  drama 
of  domestic  interest,  excellently  played  by  the  troop 
from  Makin.  It  told  the  story  of  a  man  who  has  lost 
his  wife,  at  first  bewails  her  loss,  then  seeks  another: 
the  earlier  strains  (or  acts)  are  played  exclusively  by 
men ;  but  towards  the  end  a  woman  appears,  who  has 
just  lost  her  husband;  and  1  suppose  the  pair  console 
each  other,  for  the  finale  seemed  of  happy  omen.  Of 
some  of  the  songs  my  informant  told  me  briefly  they 
were   "like  about   the  -ueemen";    this  I   could   have 

282 


THE   FIVE   DAYS'    FESTIVAL 

guessed  myself.  Each  side  (I  should  have  said)  was 
strengthened  by  one  or  two  women.  They  were  all 
soloists,  did  not  very  often  join  in  the  performance,  but 
stood  disengaged  at  the  back  part  of  the  stage,  and 
looked  (in  ridi,  necklace,  and  dressed  hair)  for  all  the 
world  like  European  ballet-dancers.  When  the  song 
was  anyway  broad  these  ladies  came  particularly  to  the 
front;  and  it  was  singular  to  see  that,  after  each  entry, 
the  premiere  danseiise  pretended  to  be  overcome  by 
shame,  as  though  led  on  beyond  what  she  had  meant, 
and  her  male  assistants  made  a  feint  of  driving  her  away 
like  one  who  had  disgraced  herself  Similar  affectations 
accompany  certain  truly  obscene  dances  of  Samoa, 
where  they  are  very  well  in  place.  Here  it  was  differ- 
ent. The  words,  perhaps,  in  this  free-spoken  world, 
were  gross  enough  to  make  a  carter  blush;  and  the 
most  suggestive  feature  was  this  feint  of  shame.  For 
such  parts  the  women  showed  some  disposition;  they 
were  pert,  they  were  neat,  they  were  acrobatic,  they 
were  at  times  really  amusing,  and  some  of  them  were 
pretty.  But  this  is  not  the  artist's  field;  there  is  the 
whole  width  of  heaven  between  such  capering  and 
ogling,  and  the  strange  rhythmic  gestures,  and  strange, 
rapturous,  frenzied  faces  with  which  the  best  of  the 
male  dancers  held  us  spellbound  through  a  Gilbert 
Island  ballet. 

Almost  from  the  first  it  was  apparent  that  the  people 
of  the  city  were  defeated.  I  might  have  thought  them 
even  good,  only  I  had  the  other  troop  before  my  eyes 
to  correct  my  standard,  and  remind  me  continually  of 
"the  little  more,  and  how  much  it  is."  Perceiving  them- 

283 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

selves  worsted,  the  choir  of  Butaritari  grew  confused, 
blundered,  and  broke  down;  amid  this  hubbub  of  un- 
familiar intervals  I  should  not  myself  have  recognized 
the  slip,  but  the  audience  were  quick  to  catch  it,  and  to 
jeer.  To  crown  all,  the  Makin  company  began  a  dance 
of  truly  superlative  merit.  I  know  not  what  it  was 
about,  1  was  too  much  absorbed  to  ask.  In  one  act  a 
part  of  the  chorus,  squealing  in  some  strange  falsetto, 
produced  very  much  the  effect  of  our  orchestra;  in  an- 
other, the  dancers,  leaping  like  jumping-jacks,  with 
arms  extended,  passed  through  and  through  each  other's 
ranks  with  extraordinary  speed,  neatness,  and  humor. 
A  more  laughable  effect  I  never  saw;  in  any  European 
theatre  it  would  have  brought  the  house  dovv'n,  and  the 
island  audience  roared  with  laughter  and  applause. 
This  filled  up  the  measure  for  the  rival  company,  and 
they  forgot  themselves  and  decency.  After  each  act  or 
figure  of  the  ballet,  the  performers  pause  a  moment 
standing,  and  the  next  is  introduced  by  the  clapping  of 
hands  and  triplets.  Not  until  the  end  of  the  whole  bal- 
let do  they  sit  down,  which  is  the  signal  for  the  rivals 
to  stand  up.  But  now  all  rules  were  to  be  broken. 
During  the  interval  following  on  this  great  applause, 
the  company  of  Butaritari  leaped  suddenly  to  their  feet 
and  most  unhandsomely  began  a  performance  of  their 
own.  It  was  strange  to  see  the  men  of  Makin  staring; 
I  have  seen  a  tenor  in  Europe  stare  with  the  same  blank 
dignity  into  a  hissing  theatre;  but  presently,  to  my  sur- 
prise, they  sobered  down,  gave  up  the  unsung  remainder 
of  their  ballet,  resumed  their  seats,  and  suffered  their 
ungallant  adversaries  to  go  on  and  finish.       Nothing 

28a 


THE   FIVE    DAYS'    FESTIVAL 

would  suffice.  Again,  at  the  first  interval,  Butaritari 
unhandsomely  cut  in;  Makin,  irritated  in  turn,  followed 
the  example;  and  the  two  companies  of  dancers  re- 
mained permanently  standing,  continuously  clapping 
hands,  and  regularly  cutting  across  each  other  at  each 
pause.  1  expected  blows  to  begin  with  any  moment; 
and  our  position  in  the  midst  was  highly  unstrategical. 
But  the  Makin  people  had  a  better  thought;  and  upon  a 
fresh  interruption  turned  and  trooped  out  of  the  house. 
We  followed  them,  first  because  these  were  the  artists, 
second  because  they  were  guests  and  had  been  scurvily 
ill-used.  A  large  population  of  our  neighbours  did  the 
same,  so  that  the  causeway  was  filled  from  end  to  end 
by  the  procession  of  deserters;  and  the  Butaritari  choir 
was  left  to  sing  for  its  own  pleasure  in  an  empty  house, 
having  gained  the  point  and  lost  the  audience.  It  was 
surely  fortunate  that  there  was  no  one  drunk;  but, 
drunk  or  sober,  where  else  would  a  scene  so  irritating 
have  concluded  without  blows  ? 

The  last  stage  and  glory  of  this  auspicious  day  was 
of  our  own  providing  —  the  second  and  positively  the 
last  appearance  of  the  phantoms.  All  round  the  church, 
groups  sat  outside,  in  the  night,  where  they  could  see 
nothing;  perhaps  ashamed  to  enter,  certainly  finding 
some  shadowy  pleasure  in  the  mere  proximity.  Within, 
aboutone-half  of  the  great  shed  was  densely  packed  with 
people.  In  the  midst,  on  the  royal  dais,  the  lantern  lumi- 
nously smoked;  chance  rays  of  light  struck  out' the 
earnest  countenance  of  our  Chinaman  grinding  the  hand- 
organ;  a  fainter  glimmer  showed  off  the  rafters  and 
their  shadows  in  the  hollow  of  the  roof;  the  pictures 

285 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

shone  and  vanished  on  the  screen ;  and  as  each  appeared, 
there  would  run  a  hush,  a  whisper,  a  strong  shuddering 
rustle,  and  a  chorus  of  small  cries  among  the  crowd. 
There  sat  by  me  the  mate  of  a  wrecked  schooner. 
"They  would  think  this  a  strange  sight  in  Europe  or 
the  States,"  said  he,  "going  on  in  a  building  like  this, 
all  tied  with  bits  of  string." 


286 


CHAPTER   VII 


HUSBAND   AND   WIFE 


The  trader  accustomed  to  the  manners  of  Eastern 
Polynesia  has  a  lesson  to  learn  among  the  Gilberts.  The 
ridi'xs  but  a  spare  attire;  as  late  as  thirty  years  back  the 
women  went  naked  until  marriage ;  within  ten  years  the 
custom  lingered ;  and  these  facts,  above  all  when  heard 
in  description,  conveyed  a  very  false  idea  of  the  manners 
of  the  group.  A  very  intelligent  missionary  described 
it  (in  its  former  state)  as  a  "  Paradise  of  naked  women" 
for  the  resident  whites.  It  was  at  least  a  platonic  Para- 
dise, where  Lothario  ventured  at  his  peril.  Since  i860, 
fourteen  whites  have  perished  on  a  single  island,  all  for 
the  same  cause,  all  found  where  they  had  no  business, 
and  speared  by  some  indignant  father  of  a  family;  the 
figure  was  given  me  by  one  of  their  contemporaries  who 
had  been  more  prudent  and  survived.  The  strange 
persistence  of  these  fourteen  martyrs  might  seem  to 
point  to  monomania  or  a  series  of  romantic  passions; 
gin  is  the  more  likely  key.  The  poor  buzzards  sat  alone 
in  their  houses  by  an  open  case;  they  drank;  their  brain 
was  fired;  they  stumbled  towards  the  nearest  houses 
on  chance;  and  the  dart  went  through  their  liver.  In 
place  of  a  Paradise  the  trader  found  an  archipelago  of 
fierce  husbands  and  of  virtuous  women.     "  Of  course 

287 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

if  you  wish  to  make  love  to  them,  it's  the  same  as  any- 
where else,"  observed  a  trader  innocently;  but  he  and 
his  companions  rarely  so  choose. 

The  trader  must  be  credited  with  a  virtue:  he  often 
makes  a  kind  and  loyal  husband.  Some  of  the  worst 
beachcombers  in  the  Pacific,  some  of  the  last  of  the  old 
school,  have  fallen  in  my  path,  and  some  of  them  were 
admirable  to  their  native  wives,  and  one  made  a  de- 
spairing widower.  The  position  of  a  trader's  wife  in 
the  Gilberts  is,  besides,  unusually  enviable.  She  shares 
the  immunities  of  her  husband.  Curfew  in  Butaritari 
sounds  for  her  in  vain.  Long  after  the  bell  is  rung 
and  the  great  island  ladies  are  confined  for  the  night 
to  their  own  roof,  this  chartered  libertine  may  scamper 
and  giggle  through  the  deserted  streets  or  go  down 
to  bathe  in  the  dark.  The  resources  of  the  store  are 
at  her  hand;  she  goes  arrayed  like  a  queen,  and  feasts 
delicately  every  day  upon  tinned  meats.  And  she  who 
was  perhaps  of  no  regard  or  station  among  natives  sits 
with  captains,  and  is  entertained  on  board  of  schooners. 
Five  of  these  privileged  dames  were  some  time  our 
neighbours.  Four  were  handsome  skittish  lasses,  game- 
some like  children,  and  like  children  liable  to  fits  of 
pouting.  They  wore  dresses  by  day,  but  there  was  a 
tendency  after  dark  to  strip  these  lendings  and  to  career 
and  squall  about  the  compound  in  the  aboriginal  ridi. 
Games  of  cards  were  continually  played,  with  shells  for 
counters;  their  course  was  much  marred  by  cheating; 
and  the  end  of  a  round  (above  all  if  a  man  was  of  the 
party)  resolved  itself  into  a  scrimmage  for  the  counters. 
The  fifth  was  a  matron.  It  was  a  picture  to  see  her 
sail  to  church  on  a  Sunday,  a  parasol  in  hand,  a  nurse- 

288 


HUSBAND   AND   WIFE 

maid  following,  and  the  baby  buried  in  a  trade  hat  and 
armed  with  a  patent  feeding-bottle.  The  service  was 
enlivened  by  her  continual  supervision  and  correction  of 
the  maid.  It  was  impossible  not  to  fancy  that  the  baby 
was  a  doll,  and  the  church  some  European  playroom. 
All  these  women  were  legitimately  married.  It  is  true 
that  the  certificate  of  one,  when  she  proudly  showed 
it,  proved  to  run  thus,  that  she  was  "married  for  one 
night,"  and  her  gracious  partner  was  at  liberty  to"  send 
her  to  hell"  the  next  morning;  but  she  was  none  the 
wiser  or  the  worse  for  the  dastardly  trick.  Another,  I 
heard,  was  married  on  a  work  of  mine  in  a  pirated 
edition ;  it  answered  the  purpose  as  well  as  a  Hall 
Bible.  Notwithstanding  all  these  allurements  of  social 
distinction,  rare  food  and  raiment,  a  comparative  vaca- 
tion from  toil,  a  legitimate  marriage  contracted  on  a 
pirated  edition,  the  trader  must  sometimes  seek  long 
before  he  can  be  mated.  While  I  was  in  the  group 
one  had  been  eight  months  on  the  quest,  and  he  was 
still  a  bachelor. 

Within  strictly  native  society  the  old  laws  and  prac- 
tices were  harsh,  but  not  without  a  certain  stamp  of 
high-mindedness.  Stealthy  adultery  was  punished  with 
death;  open  elopement  was  properly  considered  virtue 
in  comparison,  and  compounded  for  a  fine  in  land. 
The  male  adulterer  alone  seems  to  have  been  punished. 
It  is  correct  manners  for  a  jealous  man  to  hang  himself; 
a  jealous  woman  has  a  different  remedy  —  she  bites  her 
rival.  Ten  or  twenty  years  ago  it  was  a  capital  offence 
to  raise  a  woman's  ridi ;  to  this  day  it  is  still  punished 
with  a  heavy  fine;  and  the  garment  itself  is  still  sym- 
bolically sacred.     Suppose  a  piece  of  land  to  be  dis- 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

puted  in  Butaritari,  the  claimant  who  shall  first  hang  a 
ridi  on  the  tapu-post  has  gained  his  cause,  since  no 
one  can  remove  or  touch  it  but  himself. 

The  ridi  was  the  badge  not  of  the  woman  but  the 
wife,  the  mark  not  of  her  sex  but  of  her  station.  It  was 
the  collar  on  the  slave's  neck,  the  brand  on  merchan- 
dise. The  adulterous  woman  seems  to  have  been 
spared;  were  the  husband  offended,  it  would  be  a  poor 
consolation  to  send  his  draught  cattle  to  the  shambles. 
Karaiti,  to  this  day,  calls  his  eight  wives  "his  horses," 
some  trader  having  explained  to  him  the  employment 
of  these  animals  on  farms;  and  Nanteitei  hired  out  his 
wives  to  do  mason-work.  Husbands,  at  least  when 
of  high  rank,  had  the  power  of  life  and  death;  even 
whites  seem  to  have  possessed  it;  and  their  wives, 
when  they  had  transgressed  beyond  forgiveness,  made 
haste  to  pronounce  the  formula  of  deprecation  —  /  Kana 
Kim.  This  form  of  words  had  so  much  virtue  that  a 
condemned  criminal,  repeating  it  on  a  particular  day 
to  the  king  who  had  condemned  him,  must  be  in- 
stantly released.  It  is  an  offer  of  abasement,  and, 
strangely  enough,  the  reverse  —  the  imitation  —  is  a 
common  vulgar  insult  in  Great  Britain  to  this  day.  I 
give  a  scene  between  a  trader  and  his  Gilbert  Island 
wife,  as  it  was  told  me  by  the  husband,  now  one  of 
the  oldest  residents,  but  then  a  freshman  in  the  group. 

"Go  and  light  a  fire,"  said  the  trader,  "and  when  I 
have  brought  this  oil  I  will  cook  some  fish." 

The  woman  grunted  at  him,  island  fashion. 

"  lam  not  a  pig  that  you  should  grunt  at  me,"  said  he. 

"I  know  you  are  not  a  pig,"  said  the  woman, 
"neither  am  I  your  slave." 

290 


HUSBAND   AND   WIFE 

"To  be  sure  you  are  not  my  slave,  and  if  you  do 
not  care  to  stop  with  me,  you  iiad  better  go  home  to 
your  people,"  said  he.  "But  in  the  meantime  go  and 
light  the  fire;  and  when  1  have  brought  this  oil  1  will 
cook  some  fish." 

She  went  as  if  to  obey;  and  presently  when  the 
trader  looked  she  had  built  a  fire  so  big  that  the  cook- 
house was  catching  in  flames. 

"  I  Kana  Kim!  "  she  cried,  as  she  saw  him  coming; 
but  he  recked  not,  and  hit  her  with  a  cooking-pot. 
The  leg  pierced  her  skull,  blood  spouted,  it  was  thought 
she  was  a  dead  woman,  and  the  natives  surrounded 
the  house  in  a  menacing  expectation.  Another  white 
was  present,  a  man  of  older  experience.  "You  will 
have  us  both  killed  if  you  go  on  like  this,"  he  cried. 
"She  had  said  /  Kana  Kim!  "  If  she  had  not  said  / 
Kana  Kim  he  might  have  struck  her  with  a  caldron. 
It  was  not  the  blow  that  made  the  crime,  but  the  dis- 
regard of  an  excepted  formula. 

Polygamy,  the  particular  sacredness  of  wives,  their 
semi-servile  state,  their  seclusion  in  kings'  harems, 
even  their  privilege  of  biting,  all  would  seem  to  indi- 
cate a  Mohammedan  society  and  the  opinion  of  the 
soullessness  of  woman.  And  not  so  in  the  least.  It  is 
a  mere  appearance.  After  you  have  studied  these  ex- 
tremes in  one  house,  you  may  go  to  the  next  and  find 
all  reversed,  the  woman  the  mistress,  the  man  only  the 
first  of  her  thralls.  The  authority  is  not  with  the  hus- 
band as  such,  nor  the  wife  as  such.  It  resides  in  the 
chief  or  the  chief-woman;  in  him  or  her  who  has  in- 
herited the  lands  of  the  clan,  and  stands  to  the  clans- 
men in  the  place  of  parent,  exacting  their  service,  an- 

2QI 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

swerable  for  their  fines.  There  is  but  the  one  source 
of  power  and  the  one  ground  of  dignity — rank.  The 
king  married  a  chief-woman ;  she  became  his  menial, 
and  must  work  with  her  hands  on  Messrs.  Wightman's 
pier.  The  king  divorced  her;  she  regained  at  once  her 
former  state  and  power.  She  married  the  Hawaiian 
sailor,  and  behold  the  man  is  her  flunkey  and  can  be 
shown  the  door  at  pleasure.  Nay,  and  such  low-born 
lords  are  even  corrected  physically,  and,  like  grown 
but  dutiful  children,  must  endure  the  discipline. 

We  were  intimate  in  one  such  household,  that  of 
Nei  Takauti  and  Nan  Tok' ;  1  put  the  lady  first  of 
necessity.  During  one  week  of  fool's  paradise,  Mrs. 
Stevenson  had  gone  alone  to  the  sea-side  of  the  island 
after  shells.  I  am  very  sure  the  proceeding  was  un- 
safe; and  she  soon  perceived  a  man  and  woman  watch- 
ing her.  Do  what  she  would,  her  guardians  held  her 
steadily  in  view;  and  when  the  afternoon  began  to  fall, 
and  they  thought  she  had  stayed  long  enough,  took 
her  in  charge,  and  by  signs  and  broken  English  ordered 
her  home.  On  the  way  the  lady  drew  from  her  ear- 
ring-hole a  clay  pipe,  the  husband  lighted  it,  and  it  was 
handed  to  my  unfortunate  wife,  who  knew  not  how  to 
refuse  the  incommodious  favour;  and  when  they  were 
all  come  to  our  house,  the  pair  sat  down  beside  her  on 
the  floor,  and  improved  the  occasion  with  prayer.  From 
that  day  they  were  our  family  friends;  bringing  thrice  a 
day  the  beautiful  island  garlands  of  white  flowers,  visit- 
ing us  any  evening,  and  frequently  carrying  us  down  to 
their  own  maniap'  in  return,  the  woman  leading  Mrs. 
Stevenson  by  the  hand  like  one  child  with  another. 

Nan  Tok',  the  husband,  was  young,  extremely  hand- 


HUSBAND    AND   WIFE 

some,  of  the  most  approved  good  humor,  and  suffer- 
ing in  his  precarious  station  from  suppressed  high 
spirits.  Nei  Takauti,  the  wife,  was  getting  old;  her 
grown  son  by  a  former  marriage  had  just  hanged  him- 
self before  his  mother's  eyes  in  despair  at  a  well-merited 
rebuke.  Perhaps  she  had  never  been  beautiful,  but  her 
face  was  full  of  character,  her  eye  of  sombre  fire.  She 
was  a  high  chief-woman,  but  by  a  strange  exception 
for  a  person  of  her  rank,  was  small,  spare,  and  sinewy, 
with  lean  small  hands  and  corded  neck.  Her  full  dress 
of  an  evening  was  invariably  a  white  chemise  —  and 
for  adornment,  green  leaves  (or  sometimes  white  blos- 
soms) stuck  in  her  hair  and  thrust  through  her  huge 
earring-holes.  The  husband  on  the  contrary  changed 
to  view  like  a  kaleidoscope.  Whatever  pretty  thing 
my  wife  might  have  given  to  Nei  Takauti  —  a  string  of 
beads,  a  ribbon,  a  piece  of  bright  fabric — appeared  the 
next  evening  on  the  person  of  Nan  Tok'.  It  was  plain 
he  was  a  clothes-horse ;  that  he  wore  livery ;  that,  in  a 
word,  he  was  his  wife's  wife.  They  reversed  the  parts 
indeed,  down  to  the  least  particular;  it  was  the  hus- 
band who  showed  himself  the  ministering  angel  in  the 
hour  of  pain,  while  the  wife  displayed  the  apathy  and 
heartlessness  of  the  proverbial  man. 

When  Nei  Takauti  had  a  headache  Nan  Tok'  was  full 
of  attention  and  concern.  When  the  husband  had  a 
cold  and  a  racking  toothache  the  wife  heeded  not,  ex- 
cept to  jeer.  It  is  always  the  woman's  part  to  fill  and 
light  the  pipe;  Nei  Takauti  handed  hers  in  silence  to 
the  wedded  page;  but  she  carried  it  herself,  as  though 
the  page  were  not  entirely  trusted.  Thus  she  kept  the 
money,  but  it  was  he  who  ran  the  errands,  anxiously 

293 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

sedulous.  A  cloud  on  her  face  dimmed  instantly  his 
beaming  looks;  on  an  early  visit  to  their  maniap'  my 
wife  saw  he  had  cause  to  be  wary.  Nan  Tok'  had  a 
friend  with  him,  a  giddy  young  thing,  of  his  own  age 
and  sex;  and  they  had  worked  themselves  into  that 
stage  of  jocularity  when  consequences  are  too  often 
disregarded.  Nei  Takauti  mentioned  her  own  name. 
Instantly  Nan  Tok'  held  up  two  fingers,  his  friend  did 
likewise,  both  in  an  ecstasy  of  slyness.  It  was  plain 
the  lady  had  two  names;  and  from  the  nature  of  their 
merriment,  and  the  wrath  that  gathered  on  her  brow, 
there  must  be  something  ticklish  in  the  second.  The 
husband  pronounced  it;  a  well-directed  cocoa-nut  from 
the  hand  of  his  wife  caught  him  on  the  side  of  the  head, 
and  the  voices  and  the  mirth  of  these  indiscreet  young 
gentlemen  ceased  for  the  day. 

The  people  of  Eastern  Polynesia  are  never  at  a  loss; 
their  etiquette  is  absolute  and  plenary;  in  every  cir- 
cumstance it  tells  them  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it. 
The  Gilbertines  are  seemingly  more  free,  and  pay  for 
their  freedom  (like  ourselves)  in  frequent  perplexity. 
This  was  often  the  case  with  the  topsy-turvy  couple. 
We  had  once  supplied  them  during  a  visit  with  a  pipe 
and  tobacco;  and  when  they  had  smoked  and  were 
about  to  leave,  they  found  themselves  confronted  with 
a  problem:  should  they  take  or  leave  what  remained 
of  the  tobacco.  The  piece  of  plug  was  taken  up,  it  was 
laid  down  again,  it  was  handed  back  and  forth,  and 
argued  over,  till  the  wife  began  to  look  haggard  and 
the  husband  elderly.  They  ended  by  taking  it,  and  I 
wager  were  not  yet  clear  of  the  compound  before  they 
were  sure  they  had   decided   wrong.     Another  time 

294 


HUSBAND    AND    WIFE 

they  had  been  given  each  a  liberal  cup  of  coffee,  and 
Nan  Tok'  with  difficulty  and  disaffection  made  an  end 
of  his.  Nei  Takauti  had  taken  some,  she  had  no  mind 
for  more,  plainly  conceived  it  would  be  a  breach  of 
manners  to  set  down  the  cup  unfinished,  and  ordered 
her  wedded  retainer  to  dispose  of  what  was  left.  "I 
have  swallowed  all  I  can,  1  cannot  swallow  more,  it  is 
a  physical  impossibility,"  he  seemed  to  say;  and  his 
stern  officer  reiterated  her  commands  with  secret  im- 
perative signals.  Luckless  dog!  but  in  mere  humanity 
we  came  to  the  rescue  and  removed  the  cup. 

I  cannot  but  smile  over  this  funny  household ;  yet  I 
remember  the  good  souls  with  affection  and  respect. 
Their  attention  to  ourselves  was  surprising.  The  gar- 
lands are  much  esteemed,  the  blossoms  must  be  sought 
far  and  wide;  and  though  they  had  many  retainers  to 
call  to  their  aid,  we  often  saw  themselves  passing  afield 
after  the  blossoms,  and  the  wife  engaged  with  her  own 
hands  in  putting  them  together.  It  was  no  want  of 
heart,  only  that  disregard  so  incident  to  husbands,  that 
made  Nei  Takauti  despise  the  sufferings  of  Nan  Tok'. 
When  my  wife  was  unwell  she  proved  a  diligent  and  kind- 
ly nurse;  and  the  pair,  to  the  extreme  embarrassment 
of  the  sufferer,  became  fixtures  in  the  sick-room.  This 
rugged,  capable,  imperious  old  dame,  with  the  wild  eyes, 
had  deep  and  tender  qualities:  her  pride  in  her  young 
husband  it  seemed  that  she  dissembled,  fearin_g  possibly 
to  spoil  him ;  and  when  she  spoke  of  her  dead  son  there 
came  something  tragic  in  her  f^ice.  But  I  seemed  to 
trace  in  the  Gilbertines  a  virility  of  sense  and  sentiment 
which  distinguishes  them  (like  their  harsh  and  uncouth 
language)  from  their  brother  islanders  in  the  east. 

295 


PART   IV:   THE   GILBERTS  — APEMAMA 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   KING   OF   APEMAMA :    THE    ROYAL   TRADER 

There  is  one  great  personage  in  the  Gilberts :  Tembi- 
nok' of  Apemama:  solely  conspicuous,  the  hero  of  song, 
the  butt  of  gossip.  Through  the  rest  of  the  group  the 
kings  are  slain  or  fallen  in  tutelage:  Tembinok'  alone  re- 
mains, the  last  tyrant,  the  last  erect  vestige  of  a  dead 
society.  The  white  man  is  everywhere  else,  building 
his  houses,  drinking  his  gin,  getting  in  and  out  of 
trouble  with  the  weak  native  governments.  There  is 
only  one  white  on  Apemama,  and  he  on  sufferance,  liv- 
ing far  from  court,  and  hearkening  and  watching  his  con- 
duct like  a  mouse  in  a  cat's  ear.  Through  all  the  other 
islands  a  stream  of  native  visitors  comes  and  goes,  travel- 
ling by  fiimilies,  spending  years  on  the  grand  tour. 
Apemama  alone  is  left  upon  one  side,  the  tourist  dread- 
ing to  risk  himself  within  the  clutch  of  Tembinok'. 
And  fear  of  the  same  Gorgon  follows  and  troubles  them 
at  home.  Maiana  once  paid  him  tribute;  he  once 
fell  upon  and  seized  Nonuti:  first  steps  to  the  em- 
pire of  the  archipelago.  A  British  warship  coming  on 
the  scene,  the  conqueror  was  driven  to  disgorge,  his 
career  checked  in  the  outset,  his  dear-bought  armoury 
sunk  in  his  own  lagoon.  But  the  impression  had  been 
made;    periodical  fear  of  him  still  shakes  the  islands; 

2Q0 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

rumour  depicts  him  mustering  iiis  canoes  for  a  fresh 
onfall ;  rumour  can  name  his  destination ;  and  Tembinok' 
figures  in  the  patriotic  war-songs  of  the  Gilberts  like 
Napoleon  in  those  of  our  grandfathers. 

We  were  at  sea,  bound  from  Mariki  to  Nonuti  and 
Tapituea,  when  the  wind  came  suddenly  fair  for  Ape- 
mama.  The  course  was  at  once  changed ;  all  hands 
were  turned-to  to  clean  ship,  the  decks  holystoned,  the 
cabin  washed,  the  trade-room  overhauled.  In  all  our 
cruising  we  never  saw  the  Equator  so  smart  as  she  was 
made  for  Tembinok'.  Nor  was  Captain  Reid  alone  in 
these  coquetries;  for,  another  schooner  chancing  to  ar- 
rive during  my  stay  in  Apemama,  1  found  that  she  also 
was  dandified  for  the  occasion.  And  the  two  cases 
stand  alone  in  my  experience  of  South  Sea  traders. 

We  had  on  board  a  family  of  native  tourists,  from  the 
grandsire  to  the  babe  in  arms,  trying  (against  an  extra- 
ordinary series  of  ill-luck)  to  regain  their  native  island 
of  Peru.i  Five  times  already  they  had  paid  their  fare 
and  taken  ship;  five  times  they  had  been  disappointed, 
dropped  penniless  upon  strange  islands,  or  carried  back 
to  Butaritari,  whence  they  sailed.  This  last  attempt  had 
been  no  better  starred ;  their  provisions  were  exhausted. 
Peru  was  beyond  hope,  and  they  had  cheerfully  made 
up  their  minds  to  a  fresh  stage  of  exile  in  Tapituea  or 
Nonuti.  With  this  slant  of  wind  their  random  destina- 
tion became  once  more  changed ;  and  like  the  Calender's 
pilot,  when  the  "  black  mountains"  hove  in  view,  they 
changed  colour  and  beat  upon  their  breasts.  Their 
camp,  which  was  on  deck  in  the  ship's  waist,  resounded 
with  complaint.      They  would  be  set  to  work,  they 

1  111  tlie  Gilbert  group. 
300 


THE    ROYAL   TRADER 

must  become  slaves,  escape  was  hopeless,  they  must 
live  and  toil  and  die  in  Apemama,  in  the  tyrant's  den. 
With  this  sort  of  talk  they  so  greatly  terrified  their 
children,  that  one  (a  big  hulking  boy)  must  at  last  be 
torn  screaming  from  the  schooner's  side.  And  their 
fears  were  wholly  groundless.  I  have  little  doubt  they 
were  not  suffered  to  be  idle ;  but  I  can  vouch  for  it  that 
they  were  kindly  and  generously  used.  For,  the  mat- 
ter of  a  year  later,  I  was  once  more  shipmate  with  these 
inconsistent  wanderers  on  board  the  Janet  Nicoll.  Their 
fare  was  paid  by  Tembinok' ;  they  who  had  gone  ashore 
from  the  Equator  destitute,  reappeared  upon  the  Janet 
with  new  clothes,  laden  with  mats  and  presents,  and 
bringing  with  them  a  magazine  of  food,  on  which  they 
lived  like  fighting  cocks  throughout  the  voyage;  I  saw 
them  at  length  repatriated,  and  I  must  say  they  showed 
more  concern  on  quitting  Apemama  than  delight  at 
reaching  home. 

We  entered  by  the  north  passage  (Sunday,  September 
1st),  dodging  among  shoals.  It  was  a  day  of  fierce 
equatorial  sunshine;  but  the  breeze  was  strong  and 
chill;  and  the  mate,  who  conned  the  schooner  from  the 
cross-trees,  returned  shivering  to  the  deck.  The  lagoon 
was  thick  with  many-tinted  wavelets ;  a  continuous  roar- 
ing of  the  outer  sea  overhung  the  anchorage;  and  the 
long,  hollow  crescent  of  palm  ruffled  and  sparkled  in  the 
wind.  Opposite  our  berth  the  beach  was  seen  to  be  sur- 
mounted for  some  distance  by  a  terrace  of  white  coral, 
seven  or  eight  feet  high  and  crowned  in  turn  by  the 
scattered  and  incongruous  buildings  of  the  palace.  The 
village  adjoins  on  the  south,  a  cluster  of  high-roofed 
maniap's.     And  village  and  palace  seemed  deserted. 

301 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

We  were  scarce  yet  moored,  however,  before  dis- 
tant and  busy  figures  appeared  upon  the  beach,  a  boat 
was  launched,  and  a  crew  pulled  out  to  us  bringing  the 
king's  ladder.  Tembinok'  had  once  an  accident;  has 
feared  ever  since  to  intrust  his  person  to  the  rotten 
chandlery  of  South  Sea  traders;  and  devised  in  conse- 
quence a  frame  of  wood,  which  is  brought  on  board  a 
ship  as  soon  as  she  appears,  and  remains  lashed  to  her 
side  until  she  leave.  The  boat's  crew,  having  applied 
this  engine,  returned  at  once  to  shore.  They  might 
not  come  on  board;  neither  might  we  land,  or  not 
without  danger  of  offence;  the  king  giving  pratique  in 
person.  An  interval  followed,  during  which  dinner 
was  delayed  for  the  great  man;  the  prelude  of  the  lad- 
der, giving  us  some  notion  of  his  weighty  body  and 
sensible,  ingenious  character,  had  highly  whetted  our 
curiosity;  and  it  was  with  something  like  excitement 
that  we  saw  the  beach  and  terrace  suddenly  blacken 
with  attendant  vassals,  the  king  and  party  embark,  the 
boat  (a  man-of-war  gig)  come  flying  towards  us  dead 
before  the  wind,  and  the  royal  coxswain  lay  us  cleverly 
aboard,  mount  the  ladder  with  a  jealous  diffidence,  and 
descend  heavily  on  deck. 

Not  long  ago  he  was  overgrown  with  fat,  obscured 
to  view,  and  a  burthen  to  himself.  Captains  visiting 
the  island  advised  him  to  walk;  and  though  it  broke 
the  habits  of  a  life  and  the  traditions  of  his  rank,  he 
practised  the  remedy  with  benefit.  His  corpulence  is 
now  portable;  you  would  call  him  lusty  rather  than 
fat;  but  his  gait  is  still  dull,  stumbling,  and  elephantine. 
He  neither  stops  nor  hastens,  but  goes  about  his  busi- 
ness with  an  implacable  deliberation.     We  could  never 

302 


THE    ROYAL  TRADER 

see  him  and  not  be  struck  with  his  extraordinary  natu- 
ral means  for  the  theatre:  a  beaked  profile  like  Dante's 
in  the  mask,  a  mane  of  long  black  hair,  the  eye  brill- 
iant, imperious,  and  inquiring:  for  certain  parts,  and  to 
one  who  could  have  used  it,  the  face  was  a  fortune. 
His  voice  matched  it  well,  being  shrill,  powerful,  and 
uncanny,  with  a  note  like  a  sea-bird's.  Where  there 
are  no  fashions,  none  to  set  them,  few  to  follow  them 
if  they  were  set,  and  none  to  criticise,  he  dresses  —  as 
Sir  Charles  Grandison  lived — "to  his  own  heart." 
Now  he  wears  a  woman's  frock,  now  a  naval  uniform; 
now  (and  more  usually)  figures  in  a  masquerade  cos- 
tume of  his  own  design:  trousers  and  a  singular  jacket 
with  shirt  tails,  the  cut  and  fit  wonderful  for  island 
workmanship,  the  material  always  handsome,  some- 
times green  velvet,  sometimes  cardinal  red  silk.  This 
masquerade  becomes  him  admirably.  In  the  woman's 
frock  he  looks  ominous  and  weird  beyond  belief.  I  see 
him  now  come  pacing  towards  me  in  the  cruel  sun, 
solitary,  a  figure  out  of  Hoffmann, 

A  visit  on  board  ship,  such  as  that  at  which  we  now 
assisted,  makes  a  chief  part  and  by  far  the  chief  diver- 
sion of  the  life  of  Tembinok'.  He  is  not  only  the  sole 
ruler,  he  is  the  sole  merchant  of  his  triple  kingdom, 
Apemama,  Aranuka,  and  Kuria,  well-planted  islands. 
The  taro  goes  to  the  chiefs,  who  divide  as  they  please 
among  their  immediate  adherents ;  but  certain  fish,  turtles 
—  which  abound  in  Kuria, —  and  the  whole  produce  of 
the  coco-palm,  belong  exclusively  to  Tembinok'.  "A' 
cobra  1  berong  me,  "observed  his  majesty  with  a  wave  of 

1  Copra:  the  dried  kernel  of  the  cocoa-nut,  the  chief  article  of  com- 
merce throughout  the  Pacific  islands. 

103 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

his  hand;  and  he  counts  and  sells  it  by  the  houseful. 
"You  got  copra,  king?"  I  have  heard  a  trader  ask. 
"1  got  two,  three  outches,"^  his  majesty  replied:  "I 
think  three."  Hence  the  commercial  importance  of 
Apemama,  the  trade  of  three  islands  being  centred  there 
in  a  single  hand;  hence  it  is  that  so  many  whites  have 
tried  in  vain  to  gain  or  to  preserve  a  footing;  hence  ships 
are  adorned,  cooks  have  special  orders,  and  captains 
array  themselves  in  smiles,  to  greet  the  king.  If  he  be 
pleased  with  his  welcome  and  the  fare  he  may  pass 
days  on  board,  and  every  day,  and  sometimes  every 
hour,  will  be  of  profit  to  the  ship.  He  oscillates  be- 
tween the  cabin,  where  he  is  entertained  with  strange 
meats,  and  the  traderoom,  where  he  enjoys  the  pleas- 
ures of  shopping  on  a  scale  to  match  his  person.  A 
few  obsequious  attendants  squat  by  the  house  door, 
awaiting  his  least  signal.  In  the  boat,  which  has  been 
suffered  to  drop  astern,  one  or  two  of  his  wives  lie 
covered  from  the  sun  under  mats,  tossed  by  the  short 
sea  of  the  lagoon,  and  enduring  agonies  of  heat  and  te- 
dium. This  severity  is  now  and  then  relaxed  and  the 
wives  allowed  on  board.  Three  or  four  were  thus  h- 
voured  on  the  day  of  our  a. rival:  substantial  ladies  air- 
ily attired  in  ri'dis.  Each  had  a  share  of  copra,  her 
peciilium,  to  dispose  of  for  herself  The  display  in  the 
traderoom  —  hats,  ribbons,  dresses,  scents,  tins  of  sal- 
mon—  the  pride  of  the  eye  and  the  lust  of  the  flesh  — 
tempted  them  in  vain.  They  had  but  the  one  idea  — 
tobacco,  the  island  currency,  tantamount  to  minted 
gold;  returned  to  shore  with  it,  burthened  but  rejoic- 
ing; and  late  into  the  night,  on  the  royal  terrace,  were 

1  Houses. 
304 


THE   ROYAL   TRADER 

to  be  seen  counting  the  sticks  by  lamplight  in  the  open 
air. 

The  king  is  no  such  economist.  He  is  greedy  of 
things  new  and  foreign.  House  after  house,  chest  after 
chest,  in  the  palace  precinct,  is  already  crammed  with 
clocks,  musical  boxes,  blue  spectacles,  umbrellas,  knit- 
ted waistcoats,  bolts  of  stuff,  tools,  rifles,  fowling-pieces, 
medicines,  European  foods,  sewing-machines,  and,  what 
is  more  extraordinary,  stoves:  all  that  ever  caught  his 
eye,  tickled  his  appetite,  pleased  him  for  its  use,  or  puz- 
zled him  with  its  apparent  inutility.  And  still  his  lust 
is  unabated.  He  is  possessed  by  the  seven  devils  of  the 
collector.  He  hears  a  thing  spoken  of,  and  a  shadow 
comes  on  his  face.  "I  think  I  no  got  him,"  he  will 
say;  and  the  treasures  he  has  seem  worthless  in  com- 
parison. If  a  ship  be  bound  for  Apemama,  the  mer- 
chant racks  his  brain  to  hit  upon  some  novelty.  This 
he  leaves  carelessly  in  the  main  cabin  or  partly  conceals 
in  his  own  berth,  so  that  the  king  shall  spy  it  for  him- 
self. "How  much  you  want.^"  inquires  Tembinok', 
passing  and  pointing.  "  No,  king;  that  too  dear,"  re- 
turns the  trader.  "  I  think  I  like  him,"  says  the  king. 
This  was  a  bowl  of  gold-fish.  On  another  occasion  it 
was  scented  soap.  "No,  king;  that  cost  too  much," 
said  the  trader;  "too  good  for  a  Kanaka."  "  How  much 
you  got?  I  take  him  all,"  replied  his  majesty,  and  be- 
came the  lord  of  seventeen  boxes  at  two  dollars  a  cake. 
Or  again,  the  merchant  feigns  the  article  is  not  for  sale, 
is  private  property,  an  heirloom  or  a  gift;  and  the  trick 
infallibly  succeeds.  Thwart  the  king  and  you  hold  him. 
His  autocratic  nature  rears  at  the  affront  of  opposition. 
He  accepts  it  for  a  challenge ;  sets  his  teeth  like  a  hunter 

305 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

going  at  a  fence;  and  with  no  mark  of  emotion,  scarce 
even  of  interest,  stolidly  piles  up  the  price.  Thus,  for 
our  sins,  he  took  a  fancy  to  my  wife's  dressing-bag,  a 
thing  entirely  useless  to  the  man,  and  sadly  battered  by 
years  of  service.  Early  one  forenoon  he  came  to  our 
house,  sat  down,  and  abruptly  offered  to  purchase  it.  I 
told  him  I  sold  nothing,  and  the  bag  at  any  rate  was  a 
present  from  a  friend ;  but  he  was  acquainted  with  these 
pretexts  from  of  old,  and  knew  what  they  were  worth 
and  how  to  meet  them.  Adopting  what  I  believe  is 
called  "the  object  method,"  he  drew  out  a  bag  of  Eng- 
lish gold,  sovereigns  and  half-sovereigns,  and  began  to 
lay  them  one  by  one  in  silence  on  the  table;  at  each 
fresh  piece  reading  our  faces  with  a  look.  In  vain  I  con- 
tinued to  protest  I  was  no  trader;  he  deigned  not  to 
reply.  There  must  have  been  twenty  pounds  on  the 
table,  he  was  still  going  on,  and  irritation  had  begun  to 
mingle  with  our  embarrassment,  when  a  happy  idea 
came  to  our  delivery.  Since  his  majesty  thought  so 
much  of  the  bag,  we  said,  we  must  beg  him  to  accept 
it  as  a  present.  It  was  the  most  surprising  turn  in  Tem- 
binok's  experience.  He  perceived  too  late  that  his  per- 
sistence was  unmannerly;  hung  his  head  a  while  in  si- 
lence: then,  lifting  up  a  sheepish  countenance,  "I 
'shamed,"  said  the  tyrant.  It  was  the  first  and  the  last 
time  we  heard  him  own  to  a  flaw  in  his  behaviour. 
Half  an  hour  after  he  sent  us  a  camphor-wood  chest, 
worth  only  a  few  dollars  —  but  then  heaven  knows 
what  Tembinok'  had  paid  for  it. 

Cunning  by  nature,  and  versed  for  forty  years  in  the 
government  of  men,  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  he 
is  cheated  blindly,  or  has  resigned  himself  without  re- 

306 


THE   ROYAL  TRADER 

sistance  to  be  the  milch-cow  of  the  passing  trader. 
His  efforts  have  been  even  heroic.  Like  Nakaeia  of 
Makin,  he  has  owned  schooners.  More  fortunate  than 
Nakaeia,  he  has  found  captains.  Ships  of  his  have 
sailed  as  far  as  to  the  colonies.  He  has  trafficked  direct, 
in  his  own  bottoms,  with  New  Zealand.  And  even  so, 
even  there,  the  world-enveloping  dishonesty  of  the 
white  man  prevented  him;  his  profit  melted,  his  ship 
returned  in  debt,  the  money  for  the  insurance  was  em- 
bezzled, and  when  the  Coronet  came  to  be  lost,  he  was 
astonished  to  find  he  had  lost  all.  At  this  he  dropped 
his  weapons;  owned  he  might  as  hopefully  wrestle  with 
the  winds  of  heaven;  and  like  an  experienced  sheep, 
submitted  his  fleece  thenceforward  to  the  shearers. 
He  is  the  last  man  in  the  world  to  waste  anger  on  the 
incurable;  accepts  it  with  cynical  composure;  asks  no 
more  in  those  he  deals  with  than  a  certain  decency  of 
moderation:  drives  as  good  a  bargain  as  he  can;  and 
when  he  considers  he  is  more  than  usually  swindled, 
writes  it  in  his  memory  against  the  merchant's  name. 
He  once  ran  over  to  me  a  list  of  captains  and  super- 
cargoes with  whom  he  had  done  business,  classing 
them  under  three  heads:  "He  cheat  a  litty  " — "He 
cheat  plenty" — and  "I  think  he  cheat  too  much." 
For  the  first  two  classes  he  expressed  perfect  toleration ; 
sometimes,  but  not  always,  for  the  third.  I  was  pres- 
ent when  a  certain  merchant  was  turned  about  his  busi- 
ness, and  was  the  means  (having  a  considerable  influ- 
ence ever  since  the  bag)  of  patching  up  the  dispute. 
Even  on  the  day  of  our  arrival  there  was  like  to  have 
been  a  hitch  with  Captain  Reid :  the  ground  of  which 
is  perhaps  worth  recital.     Among  goods  exported  spe- 

307 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

cially  for  Tembinok'  there  is  a  beverage  known  (and 
labelled)  as  Hennessy's  brandy.  It  is  neither  Hennessy, 
nor  even  brandy;  is  about  the  colour  of  sherry,  but  is 
not  sherry;  tastes  of  kirsch,  and  yet  neither  is  it  kirsch. 
The  king,  at  least,  has  grown  used  to  this  amazing 
brand,  and  rather  prides  himself  upon  the  taste;  and 
any  substitution  is  a  double  offence,  being  at  once  to 
cheat  him  and  to  cast  a  doubt  upon  his  palate.  A 
similar  weakness  is  to  be  observed  in  all  connoisseurs. 
Now  the  last  case  sold  by  the  Equator  was  found  to 
contain  a  different  and  I  would  fondly  fancy  a  superior 
distillation;  and  the  conversation  opened  very  black 
for  Captain  Reid.  But  Tembinok'  is  a  moderate  man. 
He  was  reminded  and  admitted  that  all  men  were  liable 
to  error,  even  himself;  accepted  the  principle  that  a 
fault  handsomely  acknowledged  should  be  condoned; 
and  wound  the  matter  up  with  this  proposal:  "Tup- 
poti^  I  mi'take,  you  'peakee  me.  Tuppoti  you  mi'take, 
I  'peakee  you.     Mo'betta." 

After  dinner  and  supper  in  the  cabin,  a  glass  or  two 
of  "  Hennetti  " — the  genuine  article  this  time,  with  the 
kirsch  bouquet, — and  five  hours'  lounging  on  the  trade- 
room  counter,  royalty  embarked  for  home.  Three  tacks 
grounded  the  boat  before  the  palace;  the  wives  were 
carried  ashore  on  the  backs  of  vassals;  Tembinok' 
stepped  on  a  railed  platform  like  a  steamer's  gangway, 
and  was  borne  shoulder-high  through  the  shallows,  up 
the  beach,  and  by  an  inclined  plane,  paved  with  peb- 
bles, to  the  glaring  terrace  where  he  dwells. 

1  Suppose. 


308 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  KING  OF  APEMAMA :  FOUNDATION  OF  EQUATOR  TOWN 

Our  first  sight  of  Tembinok'  was  a  matter  of  con- 
cern, almost  alarm,  to  my  whole  party.  We  had  a 
favour  to  seek;  we  must  approach  in  the  proper  courtly 
attitude  of  a  suitor;  and  must  either  please  him  or  fail 
in  the  main  purpose  of  our  voyage.  It  was  our  wish 
to  land  and  live  in  Apemama,  and  see  more  near  at 
hand  the  odd  character  of  the  man  and  the  odd  (or 
rather  ancient)  condition  of  his  island.  In  all  other 
isles  of  the  South  Seas  a  white  man  may  land  with  his 
chest,  and  set  up  house  for  a  lifetime,  if  he  choose,  and 
if  he  have  the  money  or  the  trade;  no  hindrance  is 
conceivable.  But  Apemama  is  a  close  island,  lying 
there  in  the  sea  with  closed  doors;  the  king  himself, 
like  a  vigilant  officer,  ready  at  the  wicket  to  scrutinise 
and  reject  intrenching  visitors.  Hence  the  attraction 
of  our  enterprise;  not  merely  because  it  was  a  little 
difficult,  but  because  this  social  quarantine,  a  curiosity 
in  itself,  has  been  the  preservative  of  others. 

Tembinok',  like  most  tyrants,  is  a  conservative;  like 
many  conservatives,  he  eagerly  welcomes  new  ideas, 
and,  except  in  the  field  of  politics,  leans  to  practical 
reform.  When  the  missionaries  came,  professing  a 
knowledge  of  the  truth,  he  readily  received  them;  at- 

309 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

tended  their  worship,  acquired  the  accomplishment  of 
public  prayer,  and  made  himself  a  student  at  their  feet, 
it  is  thus  —  it  is  by  the  cultivation  of  similar  passing 
chances  —  that  he  has  learned  to  read,  to  write,  to  ci- 
pher, and  to  speak  his  queer,  personal  English,  so  dif- 
ferent from  ordinary  "Beach  de  Mar,"  so  much  more 
obscure,  expressive,  and  condensed.  His  education 
attended  to,  he  found  time  to  become  critical  of  the 
new  inmates.  Like  Nakaeia  of  Makin,  he  is  an  admirer 
of  silence  in  the  island;  broods  over  it  like  a  great  ear; 
has  spies  who  report  daily;  and  had  rather  his  subjects 
sang  than  talked.  The  service,  and  in  particular  the 
sermon,  were  thus  sure  to  become  offences:  "Here, 
in  my  island,  /  'peak,"  he  once  observed  to  me.  "My 
chieps  no  'peak  —  do  what  I  talk."  He  looked  at  the 
missionary,  and  what  did  he  see  ?  "See  Kanaka  'peak 
in  a  big  outch!"  he  cried,  with  a  strong  ring  of  sar- 
casm. Yet  he  endured  the  subversive  spectacle,  and 
might  even  have  continued  to  endure  it,  had  not  a  fresh 
point  arisen.  He  looked  again,  to  employ  his  own 
figure;  and  the  Kanaka  was  no  longer  speaking,  he 
was  doing  worse  —  he  was  building  a  copra-house. 
The  king  was  touched  in  his  chief  interests;  revenue 
and  prerogative  were  threatened.  He  considered  be- 
sides (and  some  think  with  him)  that  trade  is  incom- 
patible with  the  missionary  claims.  "Tuppoti  mito- 
nary  think  'good  man  ':  very  good.  Tuppoti  he  think 
'cobra':  no  good.  I  send  him  away  ship."  Such  was" 
his  abrupt  history  of  the  evangelist  in  Apemama. 

Similar  deportations  are  common  :  "  I  send  him  away 
ship  "  is  the  epitaph  of  not  a  few,  his  majesty  paying 
the  exile's  fare  to  the  next  place  of  call.     For  instance, 

310 


FOUNDATION  OF  EQUATOR  TOWN 

being  passionately  fond  of  European  food,  he  has  sev- 
eral times  added  to  his  household  a  white  cook,  and 
one  after  another  these  have  been  deported.  They,  on 
their  side,  swear  they  were  not  paid  their  wages;  he, 
on  his,  that  they  robbed  and  swindled  him  beyond  en- 
durance: both  perhaps  justly.  A  more  important  case 
was  that  of  an  agent,  despatched  (as  I  heard  the  story) 
by  a  firm  of  merchants  to  worm  his  way  into  the  king's 
good  graces,  become,  if  possible,  premier,  and  handle 
the  copra  in  the  interest  of  his  employers.  He  obtained 
authority  to  land,  practised  his  fascinations,  was  pa- 
tiently listened  to  by  Tembinok',  supposed  himself  on 
the  highway  to  success;  and  behold!  when  the  next 
ship  touched  at  Apemama,  the  would-be  premier  was 
flung  into  a  boat  —  had  on  board  —  his  fare  paid,  and 
so  good-bye.  But  it  is  needless  to  multiply  examples; 
the  proof  of  the  pudding  is  in  the  eating.  When  we 
came  to  Apemama,  of  so  many  white  men  who  have 
scrambled  for  a  place  in  that  rich  market,  one  remained 
—  a  silent,  sober,  solitary,  niggardly  recluse,  of  whom 
the  king  remarks,  "  1  think  he  good;  he  no  'peak." 

I  was  warned  at  the  outset  we  might  very  well  fail 
in  our  design ;  yet  never  dreamed  of  what  proved  to  be 
the  fact,  that  we  should  be  left  four-and-twenty  hours 
in  suspense  and  come  within  an  ace  of  ultimate  rejec- 
tion. Captain  Reid  had  primed  himself;  no  sooner  was 
the  king  on  board,  and  the  Hennetti  question  amicably 
settled,  than  he  proceeded  to  express  my  request  and 
give  an  abstract  of  my  claims  and  virtues.  The  gam- 
mon about  Queen  Victoria's  son  might  do  for  Butari- 
tari;  it  was  out  of  the  question  here;  and  I  now  figured 
as  "one  of  the  Old  Men  of  England,"  a  person  of  deep 

3H 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

knowledge,  come  expressly  to  visit  Tembinok's  do- 
minion, and  eager  to  report  upon  it  to  the  no  less  eager 
Queen  Victoria.  The  king  made  no  shadow  of  an  an- 
swer, and  presently  began  upon  a  different  subject. 
We  might  have  thought  he  had  not  heard,  or  not  un- 
derstood; only  that  we  found  ourselves  the  subject  of  a 
constant  study.  As  we  sat  at  meals,  he  took  us  in 
series  and  fixed  upon  each,  for  near  a  minute  at  a  time, 
the  same  hard  and  thoughtful  stare.  As  he  thus  looked 
he  seemed  to  forget  himself,  the  subject  and  the  com- 
pany, and  to  become  absorbed  in  the  process  of  his 
thought;  the  look  was  wholly  impersonal:  I  have  seen 
the  same  in  the  eyes  of  portrait-painters.  The  counts 
upon  which  whites  have  been  deported  are  mainly 
four:  cheating  Tembinok',  meddling  overmuch  with 
copra,  which  is  the  source  of  his  wealth  and  one  of  the 
sinews  of  his  power,  'peaking,  and  political  intrigue.  I 
felt  guiltless  upon  all;  but  how  to  show  it  .^  1  would 
not  have  taken  copra  in  a  gift:  how  to  express  that 
quality  by  my  dinner-table  bearing  }  The  rest  of  the 
party  shared  my  innocence  and  my  embarrassment. 
They  shared  also  in  my  mortification  when  after  two 
whole  meal-times  and  the  odd  moments  of  an  after- 
noon devoted  to  this  reconnoitring,  Tembinok'  took 
his  leave  in  silence.  Next  morning,  the  same  undis- 
guised study,  the  same  silence,  was  resumed;  and  the 
second  day  had  come  to  its  maturity  before  I  was  in- 
formed abruptly  that  I  had  stood  the  ordeal.  "I  look 
your  eye.  You  good  man.  You  no  lie,"  said  the  king: 
a  doubtful  compliment  to  a  writer  of  romance.  Later 
he  explained  he  did  not  quite  judge  by  the  eye  only, 
but  the  mouth  as  well.     "Tuppoti  I  see  man,"  he  ex- 

312 


FOUNDATION  OF  EQUATOR  TOWN 

plained.  "I  no  tavvy  good  man,  bad  man.  I  look 
eye,  look  mouth.  Then  1  tavvy.  Look  e)'e,  look 
mouth,"  he  repeated.  And  indeed  in  our  case  the 
mouth  had  the  most  to  do  with  it,  and  it  was  by  our 
talk  that  we  gained  admission  to  the  island;  the  king 
promising  himself  (and  I  believe  really  amassing)  avast 
amount  of  useful  knowledge  ere  we  left. 

The  terms  of  our  admission  were  as  follows:  We 
were  to  choose  a  site,  and  the  king  should  there  build 
us  a  town.  His  people  should  work  for  us,  but  the  king 
only  was  to  give  them  orders.  One  of  his  cooks  should 
come  daily  to  help  mine,  and  to  learn  of  him.  In  case 
our  stores  ran  out,  he  would  supply  us,  and  be  repaid 
on  the  return  of  the  Equator.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
was  to  come  to  meals  with  us  when  so  inclined ;  when 
he  stayed  at  home,  a  dish  was  to  be  sent  him  from  our 
table;  and  1  solemnly  engaged  to  give  his  subjects  no 
liquor  or  money  (both  of  which  they  are  forbidden  to 
possess)  and  no  tobacco,  which  they  were  to  receive 
only  from  the  royal  hand.  I  think  I  remember  to  have 
protested  against  the  stringency  of  this  last  article;  at 
least,  it  was  relaxed,  and  when  a  man  worked  for  me  I 
was  allowed  to  give  him  a  pipe  of  tobacco  on  the  prem- 
ises, but  none  to  take  away. 

The  site  of  Equator  City  —  we  named  our  city  for  the 
schooner — was  soon  chosen.  The  immediate  shores 
of  the  lagoon  are  windy  and  blinding;  Tembinok'  him- 
self is  glad  to  grope  blue-spectacled  on  his  terrace;  and 
we  fled  the  neighbourhood  of  the  red  conjunctiva,  the 
suppurating  eyeball,  and  the  beggar  who  pursues  and 
beseeches  the  passing  foreigner  for  eyewash.  Behind 
the  town  the  country  is  diversified;  here  open,  sandy, 

3«3 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

uneven,  and  dotted  with  dwarfish  palms;  here  cut  up 
with  taro  trenches,  deep  and  shallow,  and,  according 
to  the  growth  of  the  plants,  presenting  now  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  sandy  tannery,  now  of  an  alleyed  and 
green  garden.  A  path  leads  towards  the  sea,  mounting 
abruptly  to  the  main  level  of  the  island  —  twenty  or 
even  thirty  feet,  although  Findlay  gives  five;  and  just 
hard  by  the  top  of  the  rise,  where  the  coco-palms  begin 
to  be  well  grown,  we  found  a  grove  of  pandanus,  and 
a  piece  of  soil  pleasantly  covered  with  green  under- 
brush. A  well  was  not  far  off  under  a  rustic  well- 
house;  nearer  still,  in  a  sandy  cup  of  the  land,  a  pond 
where  we  might  wash  our  clothes.  The  place  was  out 
of  the  wind,  out  of  the  sun,  and  out  of  sight  of  the  vil- 
lage. It  was  shown  to  the  king,  and  the  town  prom- 
ised for  the  morrow. 

The  morrow  came.  Mr.  Osbourne  landed,  found 
nothing  done,  and  carried  his  complaint  to  Tembinok'. 
He  heard  it,  rose,  called  for  a  Winchester,  stepped  with- 
out the  royal  palisade,  and  fired  two  shots  in  the  air. 
A  shot  in  the  air  is  the  first  Apemama  warning;  it  has 
the  force  of  a  proclamation  in  more  loquacious  coun- 
tries; and  his  majesty  remarked  agreeably  that  it  would 
make  his  labourers  "mo'  bright."  In  less  than  thirty 
minutes,  accordingly,  the  men  had  mustered,  the  work 
was  begun,  and  we  were  told  that  we  might  bring  our 
baggage  when  we  pleased. 

It  was  two  in  the  afternoon  ere  the  first  boat  was 
beached,  and  the  long  procession  of  chests  and  crates 
and  sacks  began  to  straggle  through  the  sandy  desert 
towards  Equator  Town.  The  grove  of  pandanus  was 
practically  a  thing  of  the  past.     Fire  surrounded  and 

3 '4 


FOUNDATION  OF  EQUATOR  TOWN 

smoke  rose  in  the  green  underbrush.  In  a  wide  circuit 
the  axes  were  still  crashing.  Those  very  advantages 
for  which  the  place  was  chosen,  it  had  been  the  king's 
first  idea  to  abolish ;  and  in  the  midst  of  this  devasta- 
tion there  stood  already  a  good-sized  maniap'  and  a 
small  closed  house.  A  mat  was  spread  near  by  for  Tem- 
binok';  here  he  sat  superintending,  in  cardinal  red,  a 
pith  helmet  on  his  head,  a  meerschaum  pipe  in  his 
mouth,  a  wife  stretched  at  his  back  with  custody  of 
the  matches  and  tobacco.  Twenty  or  thirty  feet  in 
front  of  him  the  bulk  of  the  workers  squatted  on  the 
ground;  some  of  the  bush  here  survived;  and  in  this 
the  commons  sat  nearly  to  their  shoulders,  and  pre- 
sented only  an  arc  of  brown  faces,  black  heads,  and  at- 
tentive eyes  fixed  on  his  majesty.  Long  pauses  reigned, 
during  which  the  subjects  stared  and  the  king  smoked. 
Then  Tembinok'  would  raise  his  voice  and  speak  shrilly 
and  briefly.  There  was  never  a  response  in  words; 
but  if  the  speech  were  jesting,  there  came  by  way  of 
answer  discreet,  obsequious  laughter  —  such  laughter 
as  we  hear  in  schoolrooms;  and  if  it  were  practical,  the 
sudden  uprising  and  departure  of  the  squad.  Twice 
they  so  disappeared,  and  returned  with  further  elements 
of  the  city;  a  second  house  and  a  second  maniap'.  It 
was  singular  to  spy,  far  off  through  the  coco  stems,  the 
silent  oncoming  of  the  maniap',  at  first  (it  seemed) 
swimming  spontaneously  in  the  air — but  on  a  nearer 
view  betraying  under  the  eaves  many  score  of  moving 
naked  legs.  In  all  the  af^ur  servile  obedience  was  no 
less  remarkable  than  servile  deliberation.  The  gang  had 
here  mustered  by  the  note  of  a  deadly  weapon;  the 
man  who  looked  on  was  the  unquestioned  master  of 

?«5 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

their  lives;  and  except  for  civility,  they  bestirred  them- 
selves like  so  many  American  hotel  clerks.  The  spec- 
tator was  aware  of  an  unobtrusive  yet  invincible  inertia, 
at  which  the  skipper  of  a  trading  dandy  might  have  torn 
his  hair. 

Yet  the  work  was  accomplished.  By  dusk,  when  his 
majesty  withdrew,  the  town  was  founded  and  com- 
plete, a  new  and  ruder  Amphion  having  called  it  from 
nothing  with  three  cracks  of  a  rifle.  And  the  next  morn- 
ing the  same  conjuror  obliged  us  with  a  further  miracle: 
a  mystic  rampart  fencing  us,  so  that  the  path  which  ran 
by  our  doors  became  suddenly  impassable,  the  inhabit- 
ants who  had  business  across  the  isle  must  fetch  a  wide 
circuit,  and  we  sat  in  the  midst  in  a  transparent  privacy, 
seeing,  seen,  but  unapproachable,  like  bees  in  a  glass 
hive.  The  outward  and  visible  sign  of  this  glamour 
was  no  more  than  a  few  ragged  coco-leaf  garlands 
round  the  stems  of  the  outlying  palms:  but  its  signifi- 
cance reposed  on  the  tremendous  sanction  of  the  tapu 
and  the  guns  of  Tembinok'. 

We  made  our  first  meal  that  night  in  the  improvised 
city,  where  we  were  to  stay  two  months,  and  which 
—  so  soon  as  we  had  done  with  it  —  was  to  vanish  in 
a  day  as  it  appeared,  its  elements  returning  whence  they 
came,  the  tapu  raised,  the  traffic  on  the  path  resumed, 
the  sun  and  the  moon  peering  in  vain  between  the 
palm-trees  for  the  bygone  work,  the  wind  blowing 
over  an  empty  site.  Yet  the  place,  which  is  now  only 
an  episode  in  some  memories,  seemed  to  have  been 
built,  and  to  be  destined  to  endure,  for  years.  It  was 
a  busy  hamlet.  One  of  the  maniap's  we  made  our 
dining-room,   one   the   kitchen.     The   houses  we  re- 

31b 


FOUNDATION  OF  EQUATOR  TOWN 

served  for  sleeping.  They  were  on  the  admirable 
Apemama  plan :  out  and  away  the  best  house  in  the 
South  Seas;  standing  some  three  feet  above  the  ground 
on  posts;  the  sides  of  woven  flaps,  which  can  be 
raised  to  admit  light  and  air,  or  lowered  to  shut  out 
the  wind  and  the  rain:  airy,  healthy,  clean,  and  water- 
tight. We  had  a  hen  of  a  remarkable  kind:  almost 
unique  in  my  experience,  being  a  hen  that  occasionally 
laid  eggs.  Not  far  off,  Mrs.  Stevenson  tended  a  garden 
of  salad  and  shalots.  The  salad  was  devoured  by  the 
hen  —  which  was  her  bane.  The  shalots  were  served 
out  a  leaf  at  a  time,  and  welcomed  and  relished  like 
peaches.  Toddy  and  green  cocoa-nuts  were  brought 
us  daily.  We  once  had  a  present  offish  from  the  king, 
and  once  of  a  turtle.  Sometimes  we  shot  so-called 
plover  along  on  the  shore,  sometimes  wild  chicken  in 
the  bush.     The  rest  of  our  diet  was  from  tins. 

Our  occupations  were  very  various.  While  some  of 
the  party  would  be  away  sketching,  Mr.  Osborne  and 
I  hammered  away  at  a  novel.  We  read  Gibbon  and 
Carlyle  aloud;  we  blew  on  flageolets,  we  strummed  on 
guitars;  we  took  photographs  by  the  light  of  the  sun, 
the  moon,  and  flash-powder;  sometimes  we  played 
cards.  Pot-hunting  engaged  a  part  of  our  leisure.  I 
have  myself  passed  afternoons  in  the  exciting  but  innoc- 
uous pursuit  of  winged- animals  with  a  revolver;  and 
it  was  fortunate  there  were  better  shots  of  the  party, 
and  fortunate  the  king  could  lend  us  a  more  suitable 
weapon,  in  the  form  of  an  excellent  fowling-piece,  or 
our  spare  diet  had  been  sparer  still. 

Night  was  the  time  to  see  our  city,  after  the  moon 
was  up,  after  the  lamps  were  lighted,  and  so  long  as 

317 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

the  fire  sparkled  in  the  cook-house.  We  suffered  from 
a  plague  of  flies  and  mosquitoes,  comparable  to  that  of 
Egypt;  our  dinner- table  (lent,  like  all  our  furniture,  by 
the  king)  must  be  enclosed  in  a  tent  of  netting,  our 
citadel  and  refuge;  and  this  became  all  luminous,  and 
bulged  and  beaconed  under  the  eaves,  like  the  globe  of 
some  monstrous  lamp  under  the  margin  of  its  shade. 
Our  cabins,  the  sides  being  propped  at  a  variety  of 
inclinations,  spelled  out  strange,  angular  patterns  of 
brightness.  In  his  roofed  and  open  kitchen,  Ah  Fu  was 
to  be  seen  by  lamp  and  firelight,  dabbling  among  pots. 
Over  all,  there  fell  in  the  season  an  extraordinary  splen- 
dour of  mellow  moonshine.  The  sand  sparkled  as  with 
the  dust  of  diamonds;  the  stars  had  vanished.  At  in- 
tervals, a  dusky  night-bird,  slow  and  low  flying,  passed 
in  the  colonnade  of  the  tree  stems  and  uttered  a  hoarse 
croaking  cry. 


318 


CHAPTER  III 

THE   KING   OF   APEMAMA :    THE   PALACE   OF   MANY   WOMEN 

The  palace,  or  rather  the  ground  which  it  includes, 
is  several  acres  in  extent.  A  terrace  encloses  it  toward 
the  lagoon;  on  the  side  of  the  land,  a  palisade  with 
several  gates.  These  are  scarce  intended  for  defence; 
a  man,  if  he  were  strong,  might  easily  pluck  down  the 
palisade;  he  need  not  be  specially  active  to  leap  from 
the  beach  upon  the  terrace.  There  is  no  parade  of 
guards,  soldiers,  or  weapons;  the  armoury  is  under 
lock  and  key;  and  the  only  sentinels  are  certain  incon- 
spicuous old  women  lurking  day  and  night  before  the 
gates.  By  day,  these  crones  were  often  engaged  in 
boiling  syrup  or  the  like  household  occupation;  by 
night,  they  lay  ambushed  in  the  shac'ow  or  crouched 
along  the  palisade,  filling  the  office  of  eunuchs  to  this 
harem,  sole  guards  upon  a  tyrant  life. 

Female  wardens  made  a  fit  outpost  for  this  palace 
of  many  women.  Of  the  number  of  the  king's  wives 
I  have  no  guess;  and  but  a  loose  idea  of  their  function. 
He  himself  displayed  embarrassment  when  they  were 
referred  to  as  his  wives,  called  them  himself  "my 
pamily,"  and  explained  they  were  his  "cutcheons" — 
cousins.  We  distinguished  four  of  the  crowd:  the 
king's  mother;  his  sister,  a  grave,  trenchant  woman, 

319 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

with  much  of  her  brother's  intelligence;  the  queen 
proper,  to  whom  (and  to  whom  alone)  my  wife  was 
formally  presented;  and  the  favourite  of  the  hour,  a 
pretty,  graceful  girl,  who  sat  with  the  king  daily,  and 
once  (when  he  shed  tears)  consoled  him  with  caresses. 
I  am  assured  that  even  with  her  his  relations  are  pla- 
tonic.  In  the  background  figured  a  multitude  of  ladies, 
the  lean,  the  plump,  and  the  elephantine,  some  in 
sacque  frocks,  some  in  the  hairbreadth  ridi ;  high-born 
and  low,  slave  and  mistress;  from  the  queen  to  the 
scullion,  from  the  favourite  to  the  scraggy  sentries  at 
the  palisade.  Not  all  of  these  of  course  are  of  "my 
pamily," — many  are  mere  attendants;  yet  a  surprising 
number  shared  the  responsibility  of  the  king's  trust. 
These  were  key-bearers,  treasurers,  wardens  of  the  ar- 
moury, the  napery,  and  the  stores.  Each  knew  and  did 
her  part  to  admiration.  Should  anything  be  required  — 
a  particular  gun,  perhaps,  or  a  particular  bolt  of  stuff, — 
tho  right  queen  was  summoned;  she  came  bringing  the 
right  chest,  opened  it  in  the  king's  presence,  and  dis- 
played her  charge  in  perfect  preservation  —  the  gun 
cleaned  and  oiled,  the  goods  duly  folded.  Without  de- 
lay or  haste,  and  with  the  minimum  of  speech,  the 
whole  great  establishment  turned  on  wheels  like  a  ma- 
chine. Nowhere  have  I  seen  order  more  complete  and 
pervasive.  And  yet  1  was  always  reminded  of  Norse  tales 
of  trolls  and  ogres  who  kept  their  hearts  buried  in  the 
ground  for  the  mere  safety,  and  must  confide  the  secret 
to  their  wives.  For  these  weapons  are  the  life  of  Tem- 
binok'.  He  does  not  aim  at  popularity;  but  drives  and 
braves  his  subjects,  with  a  simplicity  of  domination 
which  it  is  impossible  not  to  admire,  hard  not  to  sym- 

320 


THE   PALACE   OF   MANY   WOMEN 

pathise  with.  Should  one  out  of  so  many  prove  faith- 
less, should  the  armoury  be  secretly  unlocked,  should 
the  crones  have  dozed  by  the  palisade  and  the  weapons 
find  their  way  unseen  into  the  village,  revolution  would 
be  nearly  certain,  death  the  most  probable  result,  and 
the  spirit  of  the  tyrant  of  Apemama  flit  to  rejoin  his 
predecessors  of  Mariki  and  Tapituea.  Yet  those  whom 
he  so  trusts  are  all  women,  and  all  rivals. 

There  is  indeed  a  ministry  and  staff  of  males:  cook, 
steward,  carpenter,  and  supercargoes:  the  hierarchy 
of  a  schooner.  The  spies,  "his  majesty's  daily  pa- 
pers," as  we  called  them,  come  every  morning  to  re- 
port, and  go  again.  The  cook  and  steward  are  con- 
cerned with  the  table  only.  The  supercargoes,  whose 
business  it  is  to  keep  tally  of  the  copra  at  three  pounds 
a  month  and  a  percentage,  are  rarely  in  the  palace;  and 
two  at  least  are  in  the  other  islands.  The  carpenter, 
indeed,  shrewd  and  jolly  old  Rubam  —  query,  Reuben  ? 
—  promoted  on  my  last  visit  to  the  greater  dignity  of 
governor,  is  daily  present,  altering,  extending,  embell- 
ishing, pursuing  the  endless  series  of  the  king's  inven- 
tions; and  his  majesty  will  sometimes  pass  an  after- 
noon watching  and  talking  with  Rubam  at  his  work. 
But  the  males  are  still  outsiders;  none  seems  to  be 
armed,  none  is  intrusted  with  a  key;  by  dusk  they  are 
all  usually  departed  from  the  palace;  and  the  weight 
of  the  monarchy  and  of  the  monarch's  life  reposes  un- 
shared on  the  women. 

Here  is  a  household  unlike,  indeed,  to  one  of  ours; 
more  unlike  still  to  the  Oriental  harem :  that  of  an  el- 
derly childless  man,  his  days  menaced,  dwelling  alone 
amid  a  bevy  of  women  of  all  ages,  ranks,  and  relation- 

3=' 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

ships, — the  mother,  the  sister,  the  cousin,  the  legiti- 
mate wife,  the  concubine,  the  favourite,  the  eldest  born, 
and  she  of  yesterday;  he,  in  their  midst,  the  only  mas- 
ter, the  only  male,  the  sole  dispenser  of  honours, 
clothes,  and  luxuries,  the  sole  mark  of  multitudinous 
ambitions  and  desires.  I  doubt  if  you  could  find  a  man 
in  Europe  so  bold  as  to  attempt  this  piece  of  tact  and 
government.  And  seemingly  Tembinok'  himself  had 
trouble  in  the  beginning.  1  hear  of  him  shooting  at  a 
wife  for  some  levity  on  board  a  schooner.  Another, 
on  some  more  serious  offence,  he  slew  outright;  he  ex- 
posed her  body  in  an  open  box,  and  (to  make  the 
warming  more  memorable)  suffered  it  to  putrefy  before 
the  palace  gate.  Doubtless  his  growing  years  have 
come  to  his  assistance;  for  upon  so  large  a  scale  it  is 
more  easy  to  play  the  father  than  the  husband.  And 
to-day,  at  least  to  the  eye  of  a  stranger,  all  seems  to  go 
smoothly,  and  the  wives  to  be  proud  of  their  trust, 
proud  of  their  rank,  and  proud  of  their  cunning  lord. 

I  conceived  they  made  rather  a  hero  of  the  man.  A 
popular  master  in  a  girls'  school  might,  perhaps,  offer  a 
figure  of  his  preponderating  station.  But  then  the  mas- 
ter does  not  eat,  sleep,  live,  and  wash  his  dirty  linen  in 
the  midst  of  his  admirers;  he  escapes,  he  has  a  room  of 
his  ov/n,  he  leads  a  private  life;  if  he  had  nothing  else, 
he  has  the  holidays,  and  the  more  unhappy  Tembinok' 
is  always  on  the  stage  and  on  the  stretch. 

In  all  my  coming  and  going,  I  never  heard  him  speak 
harshly  or  express  the  least  displeasure.  An  extreme, 
rather  heavy,  benignity  —  the  benignity  of  one  sure  to 
be  obeyed — marked  his  demeanor;  so  that  I  was  at 
times  reminded  of  Samuel  Richardson  in  his  circle  of 

322 


THE   PALACE   OF   MANY    WOMEN 

admiring  women.  The  wives  spoke  up  and  seemed  to 
volunteer  opinions,  like  our  wives  at  home  —  or,  say, 
like  doting  but  respectable  aunts.  Altogether,  I  conclude 
that  he  rules  his  seraglio  much  more  by  art  than  terror; 
and  those  who  give  a  different  account  (and  who  have 
none  of  them  enjoyed  my  opportunities  of  observation) 
perhaps  failed  to  distinguish  between  degrees  of  rank, 
between  "  my  pamily  "  and  the  hangers-on,  laundresses, 
and  prostitutes. 

A  notable  feature  is  the  evening  game  of  cards;  when 
lamps  are  set  forth  upon  the  terrace,  and  "I  and  my 
pamily  "  play  for  tobacco  by  the  hour.  It  is  highly  char- 
acteristic of  Tembinok'  that  he  must  invent  a  game  for 
himself;  highly  characteristic  of  his  worshipping  house- 
hold that  they  should  swear  by  the  absurd  invention. 
It  is  founded  on  poker,  played  with  the  honours  out  of 
many  packs,  and  inconceivably  dreary.  But  I  have  a 
passion  for  all  games,  studied  it,  and  am  supposed  to 
be  the  only  white  who  ever  fairly  grasped  its  principle: 
a  fact  for  which  the  wives  (with  whom  I  was  not  other- 
wise popular)  admired  me  with  acclamation.  It  was 
impossible  to  be  deceived;  this  was  a  genuine  feeling: 
they  were  proud  of  their  private  game,  had  been  cut  to 
the  quick  by  the  want  of  interest  shown  in  it  by  others, 
and  expanded  under  the  flattery  of  my  attention.  Tem- 
binok' puts  up  a  double  stake,  and  receives  in  turn  two 
hands  to  choose  from :  a  shallow  artifice  which  the  wives 
(in  all  these  years)  have  not  yet  fathomed.  He  himself, 
when  talking  with  me  privately,  made  not  the  least 
secret  that  he  was  secure  of  winning ;  and  it  was  thus  he 
explained  his  recent  liberality  on  board  the  Equator. 
He  let  the  wives  buy  their  own  tobacco,  which  pleased 

323 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

them  at  the  moment.  He  won  it  back  at  cards,  which 
made  him  once  more,  and  without  fresh  expense,  that 
which  he  ought  to  be, — the  sole  fount  of  all  indulgences. 
And  he  summed  the  matter  up  in  that  phrase  with 
which  he  almost  always  concludes  any  account  of  his 
policy:  "  Mo'  betta." 

The  palace  compound  is  laid  with  broken  coral,  ex- 
cruciating to  the  eyes  and  the  bare  feet,  but  exquisitely 
raked  and  weeded.  A  score  or  more  of  buildings  lie  in 
a  sort  of  street  along  the  palisade  and  scattered  on  the 
margin  of  the  terrace;  dwelling-houses  for  the  wives 
and  the  attendants,  storehouses  for  the  king's  curios 
and  treasures,  spacious  maniap's  for  feast  or  council, 
some  on  pillars  of  wood,  some  on  piers  of  masonry. 
One  was  still  in  hand,  a  new  invention,  the  king's 
latest  born:  a  European  frame-house  built  for  coolness 
inside  a  lofty  maniap":  its  roof  planked  like  a  ship's 
deck  to  be  a  raised,  shady,  and  yet  private  promenade. 
It  was  here  the  king  spent  hours  with  Rubam ;  here  I 
would  sometimes  join  them;  the  place  had  a  most  sin- 
gular appearance;  and  I  must  say  I  was  greatly  taken 
with  the  fancy,  and  joined  with  relish  in  the  counsels 
of  the  architects. 

Suppose  we  had  business  with  his  majesty  by  day: 
we  strolled  over  the  sand  and  by  the  dwarfish  palms, 
exchanged  a  " Kdiiainaori"  with  the  crone  on  duty, 
and  entered  the  compound.  The  wide  sheet  of  coral 
glared  before  us  deserted ;  all  having  stowed  themselves 
in  dark  canvas  from  the  excess  of  room.  1  have  gone 
to  and  fro  in  that  labyrinth  of  a  place,  seeking  the  king; 
and  the  only  breathing  creature  1  could  find  was  when 
I  peered  under  the  eaves  of  a  maniap',  and  saw  the 

324 


THE   PALACE   OF   MANY   WOMEN 

brawny  body  of  one  of  the  wives  stretched  on  the 
floor,  a  naked  Amazon  plunged  in  noiseless  slumber. 
If  it  were  still  the  hour  of  the  "morning  papers"  the 
quest  would  be  more  easy,  the  half-dozen  obsequious, 
sly  dogs  squatting  on  the  ground  outside  a  house, 
crammed  as  far  as  possible  in  its  narrow  shadow,  and 
turning  to  the  king  a  row  of  leering  faces.  Tembinok' 
would  be  within,  the  flaps  of  the  cabin  raised,  the  trade 
blowing  through,  hearing  their  report.  Like  journalists 
nearer  home,  when  the  day's  news  were  scanty,  these 
would  make  the  more  of  it  in  words;  and  I  have 
known  one  to  fill  up  a  barren  morning  with  an  imag- 
inary conversation  of  two  dogs.  Sometimes  the  king 
deigns  to  laugh,  sometimes  to  question  or  jest  with 
them,  his  voice  sounding  shrilly  from  the  cabin.  By 
his  side  he  may  have  the  heir-apparent,  Paul,  his 
nephew  and  adopted  son,  six  years  old,  stark  naked, 
and  a  model  of  young  human  beauty.  And  there  will 
always  be  the  favourite  and  perhaps  two  other  wives 
awake;  four  more  lying  supine  under  mats  and 
whelmed  in  slumber.  Or  perhaps  we  came  later,  fell 
on  a  more  private  hour,  and  found  Tembinok'  retired 
in  the  house  with  the  favourite,  an  earthenware  spit- 
toon, a  leaden  inkpot,  and  a  commercial  ledger.  In  the 
last,  lying  on  his  belly,  he  writes  from  day  to  day  the 
uneventful  history  of  his  reign;  and  when  thus  em- 
ployed he  betrayed  a  touch  of  fretfulness  on  interrup- 
tion with  which  I  was  well  able  to  sympathise.  The 
royal  annalist  once  read  me  a  page  or  so,  translating  as 
he  went;  but  the  passage  being  genealogical,  and  the 
author  boggling  extremely  in  his  version,  I  own  I  have 
been  sometimes  better  entertained.     Nor  does  he  con- 

325 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

fine  himself  to  prose,  but  touches  the  lyre  too,  in  his 
leisure  moments,  and  passes  for  the  chief  bard  of  his 
kingdom,  as  he  is  its  sole  public  character,  leading  ar- 
chitect, and  only  merchant.  His  competence,  however, 
does  not  reach  to  music;  and  his  verses,  when  they  are 
ready,  are  taught  to  a  professional  musician,  who  sets 
them  and  instructs  the  chorus.  Asked  what  his  songs 
were  about,  Tembinok*  replied,  "  Sweethearts  and  trees 
and  the  sea.  Not  all  the  same  true,  all  the  same  lie." 
For  a  condensed  view  of  lyrical  poetry  (except  that  he 
seems  to  have  forgot  the  stars  and  flowers)  this  would 
be  hard  to  mend.  These  multiforious  occupations  be- 
speak (in  a  native  and  an  absolute  prince)  unusual  ac- 
tivity of  mind. 

The  palace  court  at  noon  is  a  spot  to  be  remembered 
with  awe,  the  visitor  scrambling  there,  on  the  loose 
stones,  through  a  splendid  nightmare  of  light  and  heat; 
but  the  sweep  of  the  wind  delivers  it  from  flies  and 
mosquitoes ;  and  with  the  set  of  sun  it  became  heavenly. 
1  remember  it  best  on  moonless  nights.  The  air  was 
like  a  bath  of  milk.  Countless  shining  stars  were  over- 
head, the  lagoon  paved  with  them.  Herds  of  wives 
squatted  by  companies  on  the  gravel,  softly  chatting. 
Tembinok'  would  doff  his  jacket,  and  sit  bare  and  si- 
lent, perhaps  meditating  songs;  the  favourite  usually  by 
him,  silent  also.  Meanwhile  in  the  midst  of  the  court, 
the  palace  lanterns  were  being  lit  and  marshalled  in 
rank  upon  the  ground  —  six  or  eight  square  yards  of 
them ;  a  sight  that  gave  one  strange  ideas  of  the  number 
of  "  my  pamily":  such  a  sight  as  may  be  seen  about 
dusk  in  a  corner  of  some  great  terminus  at  home. 
Presently  these  fared  off  into  all  corners  of  the  precinct, 

}26 


THE    PALACE   OF    MANY    WOMEN 

lighting  the  last  labours  of  the  day,  lighting  one  after 
another  to  their  rest  that  prodigious  company  of  women. 
A  few  lingered  in  the  middle  of  the  court  for  the  card- 
party,  and  saw  the  honours  shuffled  and  dealt,  and  Tem- 
binok'  deliberating  between  his  two  hands,  and  the 
queens  losing  their  tobacco.  Then  these  also  were 
scattered  and  extinguished;  and  their  place  was  taken 
by  a  great  bonfire,  the  night-light  of  the  palace.  When 
this  was  no  more,  smaller  fires  burned  likewise  at  the 
gates.  These  were  tended  by  the  crones,  unseen,  un- 
sleeping—  not  always  unheard.  Should  any  approach 
in  the  dark  hours,  a  guarded  alert  made  the  circuit  of 
the  palisade;  each  sentry  signalled  her  neighbour  with 
a  stone;  the  rattle  of  falling  pebbles  passed  and  died 
away;  and  the  wardens  of  Tembinok'  crouched  in  their 
places  silent  as  before. 


327 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    KING   OF    APEMAMA :    EQUATOR   TOWN    AND   THE 
PALACE 

Five  persons  were  detailed  to  wait  upon  us.  Uncle 
Parker,  who  brought  us  toddy  and  green  nuts,  was  an 
elderly,  almost  an  old  man,  with  the  spirits,  the  indus- 
try, and  the  morals  of  a  boy  of  ten.  His  face  was 
ancient,  droll,  and  diabolical,  the  skin  stretched  over 
taut  sinews,  like  a  sail  on  the  guide-rope ;  and  he  smiled 
with  every  muscle  of  his  head.  His  nuts  must  be 
counted  every  day,  or  he  would  deceive  us  in  the  tale; 
they  must  be  daily  examined,  or  some  would  prove  to  be 
unhusked ;  nothingbut  the  king's  name,  and  scarcely  that, 
would  hold  him  to  his  duty.  After  his  toils  were  over  he 
was  given  a  pipe,  matches,  and  tobacco,  and  sat  on  the 
floor  in  the  maniap'  to  smoke.  He  would  not  seem  to 
move  from  his  position,  and  yet  every  day,  when  the 
things  fell  to  be  returned,  the  plug  had  disappeared ;  he  had 
found  the  means  to  conceal  it  in  the  roof,  whence  he 
could  radiantly  produce  it  on  the  morrow.  Although 
this  piece  of  legerdemain  was  performed  regularly  be- 
fore three  or  four  pairs  of  eyes,  we  could  never  catch 
him  in  the  fact;  although  we  searched  after  he  was  gone, 
we  could  never  find  the  tobacco.  Such  were  the  diver- 
sions of  Uncle  Parker,  a  man  Hearing  sixty.  But  he  was 
punished  according  unto  his  deeds:  Mrs.  Stevenson  took 

;28 


EQUATOR   TOWN    AND   THE   PALACE 

a  fancy  to  paint  him,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  sitter 
were  beyond  description. 

Three  lasses  came  from  the  palace  to  do  our  washing 
and  racket  with  Ah  Fu.  They  were  of  the  lowest 
class,  hangers-on  kept  for  the  convenience  of  merchant 
skippers,  probably  low-born,  perhaps  out-islanders, 
with  little  refinement  whether  of  manner  or  appearance, 
but  likely  and  jolly  enough  wenches  in  their  way.  We 
called  one  Guttersnipe,  for  you  may  find  her  image  in 
the  slums  of  any  city:  the  same  lean,  dark-eyed,  eager, 
vulgar  fiice,  the  same  sudden,  hoarse  guffaws,  the  same 
forward  and  yet  anxious  manner,  as  with  a  tail  of  an 
eye  on  the  policeman:  only  the  policeman  here  was  a 
live  king,  and  his  truncheon  a  rifle.  I  doubt  if  you  could 
find  anywhere  out  of  the  islands,  or  often  there,  the 
parallel  of  Fatty,  a  mountain  of  a  girl,  who  must  have 
weighed  near  as  many  stones  as  she  counted  summers, 
could  have  given  a  good  account  of  a  life-guardsman, 
had  the  face  of  a  baby,  and  applied  her  vast  mechanical 
forces  almost  exclusively  to  play.  But  they  were  all 
three  of  the  same  merry  spirit.  Our  washing  was  con- 
ducted in  a  game  of  romps;  and  they  fled  and  pursued, 
and  splashed,  and  pelted,  and  rolled  each  other  in  the 
sand,  and  kept  up  a  continuous  noise  of  cries  and 
laughter  like  holiday  children.  Indeed,  and  however 
strange  their  own  function  in  that  austere  establish- 
ment, were  tiiey  not  escaped  for  the  day  from  the  largest 
and  strictest  Ladies'  School  in  the  South  Seas  ? 

Our  fifth  attendant  was  no  less  a  person  than  the 
royal  cook.  He  was  strikingly  handsome  both  in  face 
and  body,  lazy  as  a  slave,  and  insolent  as  a  butcher's 
boy.     He  slept  and  smoked  on  our  premises  in  various 

329 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

graceful  attitudes;  but  so  far  from  helping  Ah  Fu,  he 
was  not  at  the  pains  to  watch  him.  It  may  be  said  of 
him  that  he  came  to  learn,  and  remained  to  teach;  and 
his  lessons  were  at  times  difficult  to  stomach.  For  ex- 
ample, he  was  sent  to  fill  a  bucket  from  the  well. 
About  half-way  he  found  my  wife  watering  her  onions, 
changed  buckets  with  her,  and  leaving  her  the  empty, 
returned  to  the  kitchen  with  the  full.  On  another  oc- 
casion he  was  given  a  dish  of  dumplings  for  the  king, 
was  told  they  must  be  eaten  hot,  and  that  he  should 
carry  them  as  fast  as  possible.  The  wretch  set  off  at 
the  rate  of  about  a  mile  in  the  hour,  head  in  air,  toes 
turned  out.  My  patience,  after  a  month  of  trial,  failed 
me  at  the  sight.  1  pursued,  caught  him  by  his  two  big 
shoulders,  and  thrusting  him  before  me,  ran  with  him 
down  the  hill,  over  the  sands,  and  through  the  applaud- 
ing village,  to  the  Speak  House,  where  the  king  was  then 
holding  a  pow-wow.  He  had  the  impudence  to  pretend 
he  was  internally  injured  by  my  violence,  and  to  pro- 
fess serious  apprehensions  for  his  life. 

All  this  we  endured;  for  the  ways  of  Tembinok'  are 
summary,  and  1  was  not  yet  ripe  to  take  a  hand  in  the 
man's  death.  But  in  the  meanwhile,  here  was  my  un- 
fortunate China  boy  slaving  for  the  pair,  and  presently 
he  fell  sick.  1  was  now  in  the  position  of  Cimondain 
Lantenac,  and  indeed  all  the  characters  in  Oiiatre-yingt- 
Trei'ie :  to  continue  to  spare  the  guilty,  1  must  sacrifice 
the  innocent.  I  took  the  usual  course  and  tried  to  save 
both,  with  the  usual  consequence  of  fLiilure.  Well  re- 
hearsed, I  went  down  to  the  palace,  found  the  king 
alone,  and  obliged  him  with  a  vast  amount  of  rigmarole. 
The  cook  was  too  old  to  learn :  I  feared  he  was  not 

330 


EQUATOR   TOWN    AND   THE   PALACE 

making  progress;  how  if  we  had  a  boy  instead?  — 
boys  were  more  teachable.  It  was  ail  in  vain;  the  king 
pierced  through  my  disguises  to  the  root  of  the  fact; 
saw  that  the  cook  had  desperately  misbehaved ;  and  sat 
a  while  glooming.  "1  think  he  tavvy  too  much,"  he 
said  at  last,  with  grim  concision;  and  immediately 
turned  the  talk  to  other  subjects.  The  same  day  an- 
other high  officer,  the  steward,  appeared  in  the  cook's 
place,  and,  I  am  bound  to  say,  proved  civil  and  indus- 
trious. 

As  soon  as  1  left,  it  seems  the  king  called  for  a  Win- 
chester and  strolled  outside  the  palisade,  awaiting  the 
defaulter.  That  day  Tembinok'  wore  the  woman's 
frock;  as  like  as  not,  his  make-up  was  completed  by  a 
pith  helmet  and  blue  spectacles.  Conceive  the  glaring 
stretch  of  sandhills,  the  dwarf  palms  with  their  noonday 
shadows,  the  line  of  the  palisade,  the  crone  sentries 
(each  by  a  small  clear  fire)  cooking  syrup  on  their  posts 
—  and  this  chimaera  waiting  with  his  deadly  engine. 
To  him,  enter  at  last  the  cook,  strolling  down  the  sand- 
hill from  Equator  Town,  listless,  vain  and  graceful; 
with  no  thought  of  alarm.  As  soon  as  he  was  well 
within  range,  the  travestied  monarch  fired  the  six  shots 
over  his  head,  at  his  feet,  and  on  either  hand  of  him : 
the  second  Apemama  warning,  startling  in  itself,  fatal 
in  significance,  for  the  next  time  his  majesty  will  aim  to 
hit.  I  am  told  the  king  is  a  crack  shot;  that  when  he 
aims  to  kill,  the  grave  may  be  got  ready;  and  when  he 
aims  to  miss,  misses  by  so  near  a  margin  that  the  cul- 
prit tastes  six  times  the  bitterness  of  death.  The  effect 
upon  the  cook  I  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  for  my- 
self.    My  wife  and  1  were  returning  from  the  sea-side 

33 « 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

of  the  island,  when  we  spied  one  coming  to  meet  us  at 
a  very  quick,  disordered  pace,  between  a  walk  and  a 
run.  As  we  drew  nearer  we  saw  it  was  the  cook,  be- 
side himself  with  some  emotion,  his  usual  warm,  mu- 
latto colour  declined  into  a  bluish  pallor.  He  passed  us 
without  word  or  gesture,  staring  on  us  with  the  face 
of  a  Satan,  and  plunged  on  across  the  wood  for  the  un- 
peopled quarter  of  the  island  and  the  long,  desert  beach, 
where  he  might  rage  to  and  fro  unseen,  and  froth  out 
the  vials  of  his  wrath,  fear,  and  humiliation.  Doubtless 
in  the  curses  that  he  there  uttered  to  the  bursting  surf 
and  the  tropic  birds,  the  name  of  the  Kaupoi  —  the  rich 
man  —  was  frequently  repeated.  1  had  made  him  the 
laughing-stock  of  the  village  in  the  affair  of  the  King's 
dumplings;  I  had  brought  him  by  my  machinations  into 
disgrace  and  the  immediate  jeopardy  of  his  days;  last, 
and  perhaps  bitterest,  he  had  found  me  there  by  the 
way  to  spy  upon  him  in  the  hour  of  his  disorder. 

Time  passed,  and  we  saw  no  more  of  him.  The  sea- 
son of  the  full  moon  came  round,  when  a  man  thinks 
shame  to  lie  sleeping;  and  I  continued  until  late — per- 
haps till  twelve  or  one  in  the  morning —  to  walk  on  the 
bright  sand  and  in  the  tossing  shadow  of  the  palms.  I 
played,  as  I  wandered,  on  a  flageolet,  which  occupied 
much  of  my  attention;  the  fans  overhead  rattled  in  the 
wind  with  a  metallic  chatter;  and  a  bare  foot  falls  at 
any  rate  almost  noiseless  on  that  shifting  soil.  Yet 
when  I  got  back  to  Equator  Town,  where  all  the  lights 
were  out,  and  my  wife  (who  was  still  awake,  and  had 
been  looking  forth)  asked  me  who  it  was  that  followed 
me,  1  thought  she  spoke  in  jest.  "Not  at  all,"  she 
said.     "1  saw  him  twice  as  you  passed,  walking  close 

332 


EQUATOR  TOWN   AND   THE    PALACE 

:it  your  heels.  He  only  left  you  at  the  corner  of  the 
maniap';  he  must  be  still  behind  the  cook-house." 
Thither  I  ran  —  like  a  fool,  without  any  weapon  —  and 
came  face  to  face  with  the  cook.  He  was  within  my 
tapu-line,  which  was  death  in  itself;  he  could  have  no 
business  there  at  such  an  hour  but  either  to  steal  or  to 
kill;  guilt  made  him  timorous;  and  he  turned  and  fled 
before  me  in  the  night  in  silence.  As  he  went  I  kicked 
him  in  that  place  where  honour  lies,  and  he  gave  tongue 
faintly  like  an  injured  mouse.  At  the  moment  1  dare- 
say he  supposed  it  was  a  deadly  instrument  that  touched 
him. 

What  had  the  man  been  after  ?  I  have  found  my 
music  better  qualified  to  scatter  than  to  collect  an  au- 
dience. Amateur  as  I  was,  1  could  not  suppose  him 
interested  in  my  reading  of  the  Carnival  of  yenice,  or 
that  he  would  deny  himself  his  natural  rest  to  follow 
my  variations  on  The  Ploughboy.  And  whatever  his 
design,  it  was  impossible  1  should  suffer  him  to  prowl 
by  night  among  the  houses.  A  word  to  the  king,  and 
the  man  were  not,  his  case  being  far  beyond  pardon. 
But  it  is  one  thing  to  kill  a  man  yourself;  quite  another 
to  bear  tales  behind  his  back  and  have  him  shot  by  a 
third  party;  and  1  determined  to  deal  with  the  fellow 
in  some  method  of  my  own.  1  told  Ah  Fu  the  story, 
and  bade  him  fetch  me  the  cook  whenever  he  should 
find  him.  1  had  supposed  this  would  be  a  matter  of 
difficulty;  and  flir  from  that,  he  came  of  his  own  ac- 
cord: an  act  really  of  desperation,  since  his  life  hung  by 
my  silence,  and  the  best  he  could  hope  was  to  be  for- 
gotten. Yet  he  came  with  an  assured  countenance, 
volunteered  no  apology  or  explanation,  complained  of 

5?3 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

injuries  received,  and  pretended  he  was  unable  to  sit 
down.  I  suppose  I  am  the  weakest  man  God  made;  I 
had  kicked  him  in  the  least  vulnerable  part  of  his  big 
carcase;  my  foot  was  bare,  and  I  had  not  even  hurt  my 
foot.  Ah  Fu  could  not  control  his  merriment.  On  my 
side,  knowing  what  must  be  the  nature  of  his  appre- 
hensions, I  found  in  so  much  impudence  a  kind  of  gal- 
lantry, and  secretly  admired  the  man.  1  told  him  I 
should  say  nothing  of  his  night's  adventure  to  the  king; 
that  1  should  still  allow  him,  when  he  had  an  errand,  to 
come  within  my  tapu-line  by  day;  but  if  ever  1  found 
him  there  after  the  set  of  the  sun  1  would  shoot  him  on 
the  spot;  and  to  the  proof  showed  him  a  revolver.  He 
must  have  been  incredibly  relieved;  but  he  showed  no 
sign  of  it,  took  himself  off  with  his  usual  dandy  non- 
chalance, and  was  scarce  seen  by  us  again. 

These  five,  then,  with  the  substitution  of  the  steward 
for  the  cook,  came  and  went,  and  were  our  only  visi- 
tors. The  circle  of  the  tapu  held  at  arm's-length  the 
inhabitants  of  the  village.  As  for  "my  pamily,"  they 
dwelt  like  nuns  in  their  enclosure;  only  once  have  I 
met  one  of  them  abroad,  and  she  was  the  king's  sister, 
and  the  place  in  which  1  found  her  (the  island  infirm- 
ary) was  very  likely  privileged.  There  remains  only  the 
king  to  be  accounted  for.  He  would  come  strolling 
over,  always  alone,  a  little  before  a  meal-time,  take  a 
chair,  and  talk  and  eat  with  us  like  an  old  family  friend. 
Gilbertine  etiquette  appears  defective  on  the  point  of 
leave-taking.  It  may  be  remembered  we  had  trouble 
in  the  matter  with  Karaiti ;  and  there  was  something 
childish  and  disconcerting  in  Tembinok's  abrupt  "I 
want  go  home  now,"  accompanied  by  a  kind  of  duck- 

534 


EQUATOR   TOWN    AND   THE    PALACE 

ing  rise,  and  followed  by  an  unadorned  retreat.  It  was 
the  only  blot  upon  his  manners,  which  were  otherwise 
plain,  decent,  sensible,  and  dignified.  He  never  stayed 
long  nor  drank  much,  and  copied  our  behaviour  where 
he  perceived  it  to  differ  from  his  own.  Very  early  in 
the  day,  for  instance,  he  ceased  eating  with  his  knife, 
it  was  plain  he  was  determined  in  all  things  to  wring 
profit  from  our  visit,  and  chietly  upon  etiquette.  The 
quality  of  his  white  visitors  puzzled  and  concerned 
him ;  he  would  bring  up  name  after  name,  and  ask  if 
its  bearer  were  a  "big  chiep,"  or  even  a  "chiep"  at 
all  —  which,  as  some  were  my  excellent  good  friends, 
and  none  were  actually  born  in  the  purple,  became  at 
times  embarrassing.  He  was  struck  to  learn  that  our 
classes  were  distinguishable  by  their  speech,  and  that 
certain  words  (for  instance)  were  tapu  on  the  quarter- 
deck of  a  man-of-war;  and  he  begged  in  consequence 
that  we  should  watch  and  correct  him  on  the  point. 
We  were  able  to  assure  him  that  he  was  beyond  cor- 
rection. His  vocabulary  is  apt  and  ample  to  an  extra- 
ordinary degree.  God  knows  where  he  collected  it, 
but  by  some  instinct  or  some  accident  he  has  avoided  all 
profone  or  gross  expressions.  "Obliged,"  "stabbed," 
"gnaw,"  "  lodge,"  "  power,"  "company,"  "slender," 
"smooth,"  and  "wonderful,"  are  a  few  of  the  unex- 
pected words  that  enrich  his  dialect.  Perhaps  what 
pleased  him  most  was  to  hear  about  saluting  the  quarter- 
deck of  a  man-of-war.  In  his  gratitude  for  this  hint  he 
became  fulsome.  " Schooner cap'n  no  tell  me, "he cried; 
"I  think  notavvy!  Youtavvy  too  much;  tavvy  'teama', 
tavvy  man-a-wa'.  I  think  you  tavvy  everything." 
Yet  he  gravelled  me  often  enough  with  his  perpetual 

335 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

questions;  and  the  false  Mr.  Barlow  stood  frequently 
exposed  before  the  royal  Sandford.  1  remember  once 
in  particular.  We  were  showing  the  magic-lantern;  a 
slide  of  Windsor  Castle  was  put  in,  and  I  told  him 
there  was  the  "  outch  "  of  Victoreea.  "How  many 
pathom  he  high?"  he  asked,  and  I  was  dumb  before 
him.  It  was  the  builder,  the  indefatigable  architect  of 
palaces,  that  spoke;  collector  though  he  was,  he  did 
not  collect  useless  information;  and  all  his  questions 
had  a  purpose.  After  etiquette,  government,  law,  the 
police,  money,  and  medicine  were  his  chief  interests  — 
things  vitally  important  to  himself  as  a  king  and  the 
father  of  his  people.  It  was  my  part  not  only  to  sup- 
ply new  information,  but  to  correct  the  old.  "My 
patha  he  tell  me,"  or  "White  man  he  tell  me,"  would 
be  his  constant  beginning.  "You  think  he  lie.''" 
Sometimes  1  thought  he  did.  Tembinok'  once  brought 
me  a  difficulty  of  this  kind,  which  I  was  long  of  com- 
prehending. A  schooner  captain  had  told  him  of  Cap- 
tain Cook;  the  king  was  much  interested  in  the  story; 
and  turned  for  more  information  —  not  to  Mr.  Stephen's 
Dictionary,  not  to  the  'Bn'taiiuica,  but  to  the  Bible  in 
the  Gilbert  Island  version  (which  consists  chiefly  of  the 
New  Testament  and  the  Psalms).  Here  he  sought  long 
and  earnestly;  Paul  he  found,  and  Festus,  and  Alex- 
ander the  coppersmith:  no  word  of  Cook.  The  infer- 
ence was  obvious:  the  explorer  was  a  myth.  So  hard 
it  is,  even  for  a  man  of  great  natural  parts  like  Tem- 
binok', to  grasp  the  ideas  of  a  new  society  and  culture. 


336 


CHAPTER   V 


KING    AND    COMMONS 


We  saw  but  little  of  the  commons  of  the  isle.  At 
first  we  met  them  at  the  well,  where  they  washed 
their  linen  and  we  drew  water  for  the  table.  The  com- 
bination was  distasteful;  and,  having  a  tyrant  at  com- 
mand, we  applied  to  the  king  and  had  the  place  en- 
closed in  our  tapu.  It  was  one  of  the  few  fovours 
which  Tembinok'  visibly  boggled  about  granting,  and 
it  may  be  conceived  how  lit  le  popular  it  made  the 
strangers.  Many  villagers  passed  us  daily  going  afield; 
but  they  fetched  a  wide  circuit  round  our  tapu,  and 
seemed  to  avert  their  looks.  At  times  we  went  our- 
selves into  the  village  —  a  strange  place.  Dutch  by  its 
canals,  Oriental  by  the  height  and  steepness  of  the 
roofs,  which  looked  at  dusk  like  temples;  but  we  were 
rarely  called  into  a  house:  no  welcome,  no  friendship, 
was  offered  us;  and  of  home  life  we  had  but  the  one 
view:  the  waking  of  a  corpse,  a  frigid,  painful  scene: 
the  widow  holding  on  her  lap  the  cold,  bluish  body  of 
her  husband,  and  now  partaking  of  the  refreshments 
which  made  the  round  of  the  company,  now  weeping 
and  kissing  the  pale  mouth.  ("I  fear  you  feel  this 
affliction  deeply,"  said  the  Scottish  minister.  "Eh, 
sir,  and  that  I  do!"  replied  the  widow.     "1  've  been 

337 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

greetin'  a'  nicht;  an'  noo  I'm  just  gaun  to  sup  this  bit 
parritcii,  and  then  I  '11  begin  an'  greet  again.")  In  our 
walks  abroad  I  have  always  supposed  the  islanders 
avoided  us,  perhaps  from  distaste,  perhaps  by  order; 
and  those  whom  we  met  we  took  generally  by  sur- 
prise. The  surface  of  the  isle  is  diversified  with  palm 
groves,  thickets,  and  romantic  dingles  four  feet  deep, 
relics  of  old  taro  plantation;  and  it  is  thus  possible  to 
stumble  unawares  on  folk  resting  or  hiding  from  their 
work.  About  pistol-shot  from  our  township  there  lay 
a  pond  in  the  bottom  of  a  jungle;  here  the  maids  of  the 
isle  came  to  bathe,  and  were  several  times  alarmed  by 
our  intrusion.  Not  for  them  are  the  bright  cold  rivers 
of  Tahiti  or  Upolu,  not  for  them  to  splash  and  laugh  in 
the  hour  of  the  dusk  with  a  villageful  of  gay  compan- 
ions; but  to  steal  here  solitary,  to  crouch  in  a  place  like 
a  cow-wallow,  and  v/ash  (if  that  can  be  called  wash- 
ing) in  lukewarm  mud,  brown  as  their  own  skins. 
Other,  but  still  rare,  encounters  occur  to  my  memory. 
I  was  several  times  arrested  by  a  tender  sound  in  the 
bush  of  voices  talking,  soft  as  flutes  and  with  quiet  in- 
tonations. Hope  told  a  flattering  tale;  I  put  aside  the 
leaves;  and  behold!  in  place  of  the  expected  dryads,  a 
pair  of  all  too  solid  ladies  squatting  over  a  clay  pipe  in 
the  ungraceful  ridi.  The  beauty  of  the  voice  and  the 
eye  was  all  that  remained  to  these  vast  dames;  but  that 
of  the  voice  was  indeed  exquisite.  It  is  strange  I 
should  have  never  heard  a  more  winning  sound  of 
speech,  yet  the  dialect  should  be  one  remarkable  for 
violent,  ugly,  and  outlandish  vocables;  so  that  Tem- 
binok'  himself  declared  it  made  him  weary,  and  pro- 
fessed to  find  repose  in  talking  English. 

338 


KING   AND   COMMONS 

The  State  of  this  folk,  of  whom  I  saw  so  little,  I  can 
merely  guess  at.  The  king  himself  explains  the  situa- 
tion with  some  art.  "No;  I  no  pay  them,"  he  once 
said.  "I  give  them  tobacco.  They  work  for  me  all 
the  same  brothers.  "  It  is  true  there  was  a  brother  once 
inArden!  But  we  prefer  the  shorter  word.  They  bear 
every  servile  mark, — levity  like  a  child's,  incurable  idle- 
ness, incurious  content.  The  insolence  of  the  cook 
was  a  trait  of  his  own;  not  so  his  levity,  which  he 
shared  with  the  innocent  Uncle  Parker.  With  equal 
unconcern  both  gambolled  under  the  shadow  of  the 
gallows,  and  took  liberties  with  death  that  might  have 
surprised  a  careless  student  of  man's  nature.  I  wrote 
of  Parker  that  he  behaved  like  a  boy  of  ten:  what  was 
he  else,  being  a  slave  of  sixty  t  He  had  passed  all  his 
years  in  school,  fed,  clad,  thought  for,  commanded; 
and  had  grown  familiar  and  coquetted  with  the  fear  of 
punishment.  By  terror  you  may  drive  men  long,  but 
not  far.  Here,  in  Apemama,  they  work  at  the  constant 
and  the  instant  peril  of  their  lives;  and  are  plunged  in 
a  kind  of  lethargy  of  laziness.  It  is  common  to  see  one 
go  afield  in  his  stiff  mat  ungirt,  so  that  he  walks  elbows- 
in  like  a  trussed  fowl;  and  whatsoever  his  right  hand 
fmdeth  to  do,  the  other  must  be  off  duty  holding  on 
his  clothes.  It  is  common  to  see  two  men  carrying 
between  them  on  a  pole  a  single  bucket  of  water.  To 
make  two  bites  of  a  cherry  is  good  enough :  to  make 
two  burthens  of  a  soldier's  kit,  for  a  distance  of  perhaps 
half  a  furlong,  passes  measure.  Woman,  being  the  less 
childish  animal,  is  less  relaxed  by  servile  conditions. 
Even  in  the  king's  absence,  even  when  they  were  alone, 
I  have  seen  Apemama  women  work  with  constancy. 

339 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

But  the  outside  to  be  hoped  for  in  a  man  is  that  he  may 
attaci<  his  task  in  little  languid  fits,  and  lounge  between- 
whiles.  So  I  have  seen  a  painter,  with  his  pipe  going, 
and  a  friend  by  the  studio  fireside.  You  might  suppose 
the  race  to  lack  civility,  even  vitality,  until  you  saw 
them  in  the  dance.  Night  after  night,  and  sometimes 
day  after  day,  they  rolled  out  their  choruses  in  the  great 
Speak  House  —  solemn  andantes  and  adagios,  led  by 
the  clapped  hand,  and  delivered  with  an  energy  that 
shook  the  roof.  The  time  was  not  so  slow,  though  it 
was  slow  for  the  islands;  but  I  have  chosen  rather  to 
indicate  the  effect  upon  the  hearer.  Their  music  had  a 
church-like  character  from  near  at  hand,  and  seemed  to 
European  ears  more  regular  than  the  run  of  island 
music.  Twice  I  have  heard  a  discord  regularly  solved. 
From  farther  off,  heard  at  Equator  Town  for  instance, 
the  measures  rose  and  fell  and  crepitated  like  the  bark- 
ing of  hounds  in  a  distant  kennel. 

The  slaves  are  certainly  not  overworked  —  children 
of  ten  do  more  without  fatigue  —  and  the  Apemama 
labourers  have  holidays,  when  the  singing  begins  early 
in  the  afternoon.  The  diet  is  hard;  copra  and  a  sweet- 
meat of  pounded  pandanus  are  the  only  dishes  I  ob- 
served outside  the  palace;  but  there  seems  no  defect  in 
quantity,  and  the  king  shares  with  them  his  turtles. 
Three  came  in  a  boat  from  Kuria  during  our  stay ;  one 
was  kept  for  the  palace,  one  sent  to  us,  one  presented 
to  the  village.  It  is  the  habit  of  the  islanders  to  cook 
the  turtle  in  its  carapace;  we  had  been  promised  the 
shells,  and  we  asked  a  tapu  on  this  foolish  practice. 
The  face  of  Tembinok'  darkened  and  he  answered  no- 
thing.    Hesitation  in  the  question  of  the  well  I  could 

340 


KING    AND    COMMONS 

understand,  for  water  is  scarce  on  a  low  island;  that 
he  should  refuse  to  interfere  upon  a  point  of  cookery 
was  more  than  I  had  dreamed  of;  and  I  gathered 
(rightly  or  wrongly)  that  he  was  scrupulous  of  touch- 
ing in  the  least  degree  the  private  life  and  habits  of  his 
slaves.  So  that  even  here,  in  full  despotism,  public 
opinion  has  weight;  even  here,  in  the  midst  of  slavery, 
freedom  has  a  corner. 

Orderly,  sober,  and  innocent,  life  flows  in  the  isle 
from  day  to  day  as  in  a  model  plantation  under  a  model 
planter.  It  is  impossible  to  doubt  the  beneficence  of 
that  stern  rule.  A  curious  politeness,  a  soft  and  gra- 
cious manner,  something  effeminate  and  courtly,  dis- 
tinguishes the  islanders  of  Apemama;  it  is  talked  of  by 
all  the  traders,  it  was  felt  even  by  residents  so  little  be- 
loved as  ourselves,  and  noticeable  even  in  the  cook, 
and  even  in  that  scoundrel's  hours  of  insolence.  The 
king,  with  his  manly  and  plain  bearing,  stood  out  alone; 
you  might  say  he  was  the  only  Gilbert  Islander  in  Ape- 
mama.  Violence,  so  common  in  Butaritari,  seems  un- 
known. So  are  theft  and  drunkenness,  I  am  assured 
the  experiment  has  been  made  of  leaving  sovereigns  on 
the  beach  before  the  village :  they  lay  there  untouched. 
In  all  our  time  on  the  island  I  was  but  once  asked  for 
drink.  This  was  by  a  mighty  plausible  fellow,  wearing 
European  clothes  and  speaking  excellent  English  — 
Tamaiti  his  name,  or,  as  the  whites  have  now  cor- 
rupted it,  "  Toin  White:  "  one  of  the  king's  supercar- 
goes at  three  pounds  a  month  and  a  percentage,  a 
medical  man  besides,  and  in  his  private  hours  a  wizard. 
He  found  me  one  day  in  the  outskirts  of  the  village,  in 
a  secluded  place,  hot  and  private,  where  the  taro-pits 

341 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

are  deep  and  the  plants  high.  Here  he  buttonholed 
me,  and,  looking  about  him  like  a  conspirator,  inquired 
if  I  had  gin. 

I  told  him  I  had.  He  remarked  that  gin  was  forbid- 
den, lauded  the  prohibition  a  while,  and  then  went  on 
to  explain  that  he  was  a  doctor,  or  "dogstar"  as  he 
pronounced  the  word,  that  gin  was  necessary  to  him 
for  his  medical  infusions,  that  he  was  quite  out  of  it, 
and  that  he  would  be  obliged  to  me  for  some  in  a  bottle. 
I  told  him  I  had  passed  the  king  my  word  on  landing; 
but  since  his  case  was  so  exceptional,  I  would  go  down 
to  the  palace  at  once,  and  had  no  doubt  that  Tembinok' 
would  set  me  free.  Tom  White  was  immediately  over- 
whelmed with  embarrassment  and  terror,  besought  me 
in  the  most  moving  terms  not  to  betray  him,  and  fled 
my  neighbourhood.  He  had  none  of  the  cook's  valour; 
it  was  weeks  before  he  dared  to  meet  my  eye;  and  then 
only  by  the  order  of  the  king  and  on  particular  business. 

The  more  1  viewed  and  admired  this  triumph  of  firm 
rule,  the  more  I  was  haunted  and  troubled  by  a  prob- 
lem, the  problem  (perhaps)  of  to-morrow  for  ourselves. 
Here  was  a  people  protected  from  all  serious  misfortune, 
relieved  of  all  serious  anxieties,  and  deprived  of  what 
we  call  our  liberty.  Did  they  like  it  ?  and  what  was 
their  sentiment  toward  the  ruler  ?  The  first  question  I 
could  not  of  course  ask,  nor  perhaps  the  natives  an- 
swer. Even  the  second  was  delicate;  yet  at  last,  and 
under  charming  and  strange  circumstances,  1  found  my 
opportunity  to  put  it  and  a  man  to  reply.  It  was  near 
the  full  of  the  moon,  with  a  delicious  breeze;  the  isle 
was  bright  as  day  —  to  sleep  would  have  been  sacri- 
lege; and  I  walked  in  the  bush,  playing  my  pipe.     It 

34= 


KING   AND   COMMONS 

must  have  been  the  sound  of  what  I  am  pleased  to  call 
my  music  that  attracted  in  my  direction  another  wan- 
derer of  the  night.  This  was  a  young  man  attired  in  a 
fine  mat,  and  with  a  garland  on  his  hair,  for  he  was 
new  come  from  dancing  and  singing  in  the  public  hall; 
and  his  body,  his  face,  and  his  eyes,  were  all  of  an  en- 
chanting beauty.  Every  here  and  there  in  the  Gilberts 
youths  are  to  be  found  of  this  absurd  perfection;  I  have 
seen  five  of  us  pass  half  an  hour  in  admiration  of  a  boy 
at  Mariki;  and  Te  Kop  (my  friend  in  the  fine  mat  and 
garland)  1  had  already  several  times  remarked,  and  long 
ago  set  down  as  the  loveliest  animal  in  Apemama. 
The  philtre  of  admiration  must  be  very  strong,  or  these 
natives  specially  susceptible  to  its  effects,  for  1  have 
scarce  ever  admired  a  person  in  the  islands  but  what  he 
has  sought  my  particular  acquaintance.  So  it  was  with 
Te  Kop.  He  led  me  to  the  ocean  side;  and  for  an  hour 
or  two  we  sat  smoking  and  talking  on  the  resplendent 
sand  and  under  the  ineffable  brightness  of  the  moon. 
My  friend  showed  himself  very  sensible  of  the  beauty 
and  amenity  of  the  hour.  "Goodnight!  Good  wind!" 
he  kept  exclaiming,  and  as  he  said  the  words  he  seemed 
to  hug  himself.  I  had  long  before  invented  such  reiter- 
ated expressions  of  delight  for  a  character  (Felipe,  in  the 
story  of  Olalla)  intended  to  be  partly  bestial.  But  there 
was  nothing  bestial  in  Te  Kop;  only  a  childish  pleasure 
in  the  moment.  He  was  no  less  pleased  with  his  com- 
panion, or  was  good  enough  to  say  so;  honoured  me, 
before  he  left,  by  calling  me  Te  Kop;  apostrophised  me 
as  "  My  name!  "  with  an  intonation  exquisitely  tender, 
laying  his  hand  at  the  same  time  swiftly  on  my  knee; 
and  after  we  had  risen,  and  our  paths  began  to  sepa- 

343 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

rate  in  the  bush,  twice  cried  to  me  with  a  sort  of  gentle 
ecstasy,  "I  like  you  too  much!  "  From  the  beginning 
he  had  made  no  secret  of  his  terror  of  the  king;  would 
not  sit  down  or  speak  above  a  whisper  till  he  had  put 
the  whole  breadth  of  the  isle  between  himself  and  his 
monarch,  then  harmlessly  asleep;  and  even  there,  even 
within  a  stone-cast  of  the  outer  sea,  our  talk  covered  by 
the  sound  of  the  surf  and  the  rattle  of  the  wind  among 
the  palms,  continued  to  speak  guardedly,  softening  his 
silver  voice  (which  rang  loud  enough  in  the  chorus)  and 
looking  about  him  like  a  man  in  fear  of  spies.  The 
strange  thing  is  that  I  should  have  beheld  him  no  more. 
In  any  other  island  in  the  whole  South  Seas,  if  I  had 
advanced  half  as  far  with  any  native,  he  would  have 
been  at  my  door  next  morning,  bringing  and  expecting 
gifts.  But  Te  Kop  vanished  in  the  bush  for  ever.  My 
house,  of  course,  was  unapproachable;  but  he  knew 
where  to  find  me  on  the  ocean  beach,  where  I  went 
daily.  I  was  the  Kaupoi,  the  rich  man;  my  tobacco 
and  trade  were  known  to  be  endless;  he  was  sure  of  a 
present.  I  am  at  a  loss  how  to  explain  his  behaviour, 
unless  it  be  supposed  that  he  recalled  with  terror  and 
regret  a  passage  in  our  interview.     Here  it  is: 

"The  king,  he  good  man  }"  1  asked. 

"Suppose  he  like  you,  he  good  man,"  replied  Te 
Kop:  "  no  like,  no  good." 

That  is  one  way  of  putting  it,  of  course.  Te  Kop 
himself  was  probably  no  favourite,  for  he  scarce  appealed 
to  my  judgment  as  a  type  of  industry.  And  there  must 
be  many  others  whom  the  king  (to  adhere  to  the  formu- 
la) does  not  like.  Do  these  unfortunates  like  the  king  } 
Or  is  not  rather  the  repulsion  mutual  ?  and  the  conscien- 

344 


KING   AND   COMMONS 

tious  Tembinok',  like  the  conscientious  Braxfield  before 
him,  and  many  other  conscientious  rulers  and  judges 
before  either,  surrounded  by  a  considerable  body  of 
"  grumbletonians  "  ?  Take  the  cook,  for  instance,  when 
he  passed  us  by,  blue  with  rage  and  terror.  He  was 
very  wroth  with  me;  1  think  by  all  the  old  principles  of 
human  nature  he  was  not  very  well  pleased  with  his 
sovereign.  It  was  the  rich  man  he  sought  to  waylay: 
I  think  it  must  have  been  by  the  turn  of  a  hair  that  it 
was  not  the  king  he  waylaid  instead.  And  the  king 
gives,  or  seems  to  give,  plenty  of  opportunities;  day 
and  night  he  goes  abroad  alone,  whether  armed  or  not 
I  can  but  guess;  and  the  taro-patches,  where  his  busi- 
ness must  so  often  carry  him,  seem  designed  for  assassi- 
nation. The  case  of  the  cook  was  heavy  indeed  to  my 
conscience.  I  did  not  like  to  kill  my  enemy  at  second- 
hand; but  had  1  a  right  to  conceal  from  the  king,  who 
had  trusted  me,  the  dangerous  secret  character  of  his 
attendant.?  And  suppose  the  king  should  foil,  what 
would  be  the  fate  of  the  king's  friends  ?  It  was  our 
opinion  at  the  time  that  we  should  pay  dear  for  the 
closing  of  the  well;  that  our  breath  was  in  the  king's 
nostrils;  that  if  the  king  should  by  any  chance  be  bludg- 
eoned in  a  taro-patch,  the  philosophical  and  musical 
inhabitants  of  Equator  Town  might  lay  aside  their 
pleasant  instruments,  and  betake  themselves  to  what 
defence  they  had,  with  a  very  dim  prospect  of  success. 
These  speculations  were  forced  upon  us  by  an  incident 
which  I  am  ashamed  to  betray.  The  schooner  H.  L. 
Haseltine  (since  capsized  at  sea,  with  the  loss  of  eleven 
lives)  put  in  to  Apemama  in  a  good  hour  for  us,  who 
had  near  exhausted  our  supplies.     The  king,  after  his 

345 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

habit,  spent  day  after  day  on  board;  the  gin  proved  un- 
happily to  his  taste;  he  brought  a  store  of  it  ashore  with 
him;  and  for  some  time  the  sole  tyrant  of  the  isle  was 
half-seas  over.  He  was  not  drunk  —  the  man  is  not  a 
drunkard,  he  has  always  stores  of  liquor  at  hand,  which 
he  uses  with  moderation, —  but  he  was  muzzy,  dull,  and 
confused.  He  came  one  day  to  lunch  with  us,  and 
while  the  cloth  was  being  laid  fell  asleep  in  his  chair. 
His  confusion,  when  he  awoke  and  found  he  had  been 
detected,  was  equalled  by  our  uneasiness.  When  he 
was  gone  we  sat  and  spoke  of  his  peril,  which  we 
thought  to  be  in  some  degree  our  own;  of  how  easily 
the  man  might  be  surprised  in  such  a  stale  by  gnimble- 
tonians;  of  the  strange  scenes  that  would  follow  —  the 
royal  treasures  and  stores  at  the  mercy  of  the  rabble,  the 
palace  overrun,  the  garrison  of  women  turned  adrift. 
And  as  we  talked  we  were  startled  by  a  gun-shot  and  a 
sudden,  barbaric  outcry.  I  believe  we  all  changed  colour ; 
but  it  was  only  the  king  firing  at  a  dog  and  the  chorus 
striking  up  in  the  Speak  House.  A  day  or  two  later  1 
learned  the  king  was  very  sick;  went  down,  diagnosed 
the  case;  and  took  at  once  the  highest  medical  degree 
by  the  exhibition  of  bicarbonate  of  soda.  Within  the 
hour  Richard  was  himself  again;  and  I  found  him  at  the 
unfinished  house,  enjoying  the  double  pleasure  of  direct- 
ing Rubam  and  making  a  dinner  off  cocoa-nut  dump- 
lings, and  all  eagerness  to  have  the  formula  of  this  new 
sort  of  pain-killer  —  for  pain-kiUer  in  the  islands  is  the 
generic  name  of  medicine.  So  ended  the  king's  m.odest 
spree  and  our  anxiety. 

On  the  face  of  things,  I  ought  to  say,  loyalty  appeared 
unshaken.     When  the  schooner  at  last  returned  for  us, 

346 


KING   AND   COMMONS 

after  much  experience  of  baffling  winds,  she  brought  a 
rumour  that  Tebureimoa  had  dechired  war  on  Ape- 
mama.  Tembinok'  became  a  new  man;  his  face  ra- 
diant; his  attitude,  as  I  saw  him  preside  over  a  council 
of  chiefs  in  one  of  the  palace  maniap's,  eager  as  a  boy's; 
his  voice  sounding  abroad,  shrill  and  jubilant,  over 
half  the  compound.  War  is  what  he  wants,  and  here 
was  his  chance.  The  English  captain,  when  he  flung 
his  arms  in  the  lagoon,  had  forbidden  him  (except  in 
one  case)  all  military  adventures  in  the  future :  here  was 
the  case  arrived.  All  morning  the  council  sat;  men 
were  drilled,  arms  were  bought,  the  sound  of  firing  dis- 
turbed the  afternoon;  the  king  devised  and  communi- 
cated to  me  his  plan  of  campaign,  which  was  highly 
elaborate  and  ingenious,  but  perhaps  a  trifle  fine-spun 
for  the  rough  and  random  vicissitudes  of  war.  And  in 
all  this  bustle  the  temper  of  the  people  appeared  excel- 
lent, an  unwonted  animation  in  every  face,  and  even 
Uncle  Parker  burning  with  military  zeal. 

Of  course  it  was  a  false  alarm.  Tebureimoa  had 
other  fish  to  fry.  The  ambassador  who  accompanied 
us  on  our  return  to  Butaritari  found  him  retired  to  a 
small  island  on  the  reef,  in  a  huff  with  the  Old  Men,  a 
tiff  with  the  traders,  and  more  fear  of  insurrection  at 
home  than  appetite  for  wars  abroad.  The  plenipoten- 
tiary had  been  placed  under  my  protection;  and  we 
solemnly  saluted  when  we  met.  He  proved  an  excellent 
fisherman,  and  caught  bonito  over  the  ship's  side.  He 
pulled  a  good  oar,  and  made  himself  useful  for  a  whole 
fiery  afternoon,  towing  the  becalmed  £^//j/oroff  Mariki. 
He  went  to  his  post  and  did  no  good.  He  returned 
home  again,  having  done  no  harm.     O  si  sic  omnes  f 

347 


CHAPTER   VI 

THE   KING   OF   APEMAMA :    DEVIL-WORK 

The  ocean  beach  of  Apemama  was  our  daily  resort. 
The  coast  is  broken  by  shallow  bays.  The  reef  is  de- 
tached, elevated,  and  includes  a  lagoon  about  knee- 
deep,  the  unrestful  spending-basin  of  the  surf.  The 
beach  is  now  of  fine  sand,  now  of  broken  coral.  The 
trend  of  the  coast  being  convex,  scarce  a  quarter  of  a 
mile  of  it  is  to  be  seen  at  once ;  the  land  being  so  low,  the 
horizon  appears  within  a  stone-cast;  and  the  narrow 
prospect  enhances  the  sense  of  privacy.  Man  avoids 
the  place  —  even  his  footprints  are  uncommon;  but  a 
great  number  of  birds  hover  and  pipe  there  fishing,  and 
leave  crooked  tracks  upon  the  sand.  Apart  from  these, 
the  only  sound  (and  I  was  going  to  say  the  only  so- 
ciety) is  that  of  the  breakers  on  the  reef. 

On  each  projection  of  the  coast,  the  bank  of  coral 
clinkers  immediately  above  the  beach  has  been  levelled, 
and  a  pillar  built,  perhaps  breast-high.  These  are  not 
sepulchral;  all  the  dead  being  buried  on  the  inhabited 
side  of  the  island,  close  to  men's  houses,  and  (what  is 
worse)  to  their  wells.  I  was  told  they  were  to  protect 
the  isle  against  inroads  from  the  sea  —  divine  or  dia- 
bolical martellos,  probably  sacred  to  Taburik,  God  of 
Thunder. 

348 


DEVIL-WORK 

The  bay  immediately  opposite  Equator  Town,  which 
we  called  Fu  Bay,  in  honour  of  our  cook,  was  thus 
fortified  on  either  horn.  It  was  well  sheltered  by  the 
reef,  the  enclosed  water  clear  and  trjinquil,  the  enclos- 
ing beach  curved  like  a  horseshoe,  and  both  steep  and 
broad.  The  path  debouched  about  the  midst  of  the 
re-entrant  angle,  the  woods  stopping  some  distance  in- 
land. In  front,  between  the  fringe  of  the  wood  and 
the  crown  of  the  beach,  there  had  been  designed  a 
regular  figure,  like  the  court  for  some  new  variety  of 
tennis,  with  borders  of  round  stones  imbedded,  and 
pointed  at  the  angles  with  low  posts,  likewise  of  stone. 
This  was  the  king's  Pray  Place.  When  he  prayed, 
what  he  prayed  for,  and  to  whom  he  addressed  his 
supplications,  1  could  never  learn.  The  ground  was 
tapu. 

In  the  angle,  by  the  mouth  of  the  path,  stood  a  de- 
serted maniap'.  Near  by  there  had  been  a  house  before 
our  coming,  which  was  now  transported  and  figured 
for  the  moment  in  Equator  Town.  It  had  been,  and  it 
would  be  again  when  we  departed,  the  residence  of 
the  guardian  and  wizard  of  the  spot  —  Tamaiti.  Here, 
in  this  lone  place,  within  sound  of  the  sea,  he  had  his 
dwelling  and  uncanny  duties.  I  cannot  call  to  mind 
another  case  of  a  man  living  on  the  ocean  side  of  any 
open  atoll;  and  Tamaiti  must  have  had  strong  nerves, 
the  greater  confidence  in  his  own  spells,  or,  what  I  be- 
lieve to  be  the  truth,  an  enviable  scepticism.  Whether 
Tamaiti  had  any  guardianship  of  the  Pray  Place  I  never 
heard.  But  his  own  particular  chapel  stood  farther  back 
in  the  fringe  of  the  wood.  It  was  a  tree  of  respectable 
growth.     Around  it  there  was  drawn  a  circle  of  stones 

349 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

like  those  that  enclosed  the  Pray  Place;  in  front,  facing 
towards  the  sea,  a  stone  of  a  much  greater  size,  and 
somewhat  hollowed,  like  a  piscina,  stood  close  against 
the  trunk;  in  front  of  that  again  a  conical  pile  of  gravel. 
In  the  hollow  of  what  1  have  called  the  piscina  (though 
it  proved  to  be  a  magic  seat)  lay  an  offering  of  green 
cocoa-nuts;  and  when  you  looked  up  you  found  the 
boughs  of  the  tree  to  be  laden  with  strange  fruit:  palm 
branches  elaborately  plaited,  and  beautiful  models  of 
canoes,  finished  and  rigged  to  the  least  detail.  The 
whole  had  the  appearance  of  a  midsummer  and  sylvan 
Christmas-tree  al  fresco.  Yet  we  were  already  well 
enough  acquainted  in  the  Gilberts  to  recognise  it,  at 
the  first  sight,  for  a  piece  of  wizardry,  or,  as  they  say 
in  the  group,  of  Devil-work. 

The  plaited  palms  were  what  we  recognised.  We 
had  seen  them  before  on  Apaiang,  the  most  christian- 
ised of  all  these  islands;  where  excellent  Mr.  Bingham 
lived  and  laboured  and  has  left  golden  memories; 
whence  all  the  education  in  the  northern  Gilberts  traces 
its  descent;  and  where  we  were  boarded  by  little  na- 
tive Sunday-school  misses  in  clean  frocks,  with  demure 
faces,  and  singing  hymns  as  to  the  manner  born. 

Our  experience  of  Devil-work  at  Apaiang  had  been  as 
follows:  —  It  chanced  we  were  benighted  at  the  house 
of  Captain  Tierney.  My  wife  and  I  lodged  with  a  China- 
man some  half  a  mile  away;  and  thither  Captain  Reid 
and  a  native  boy  escorted  us  by  torchlight.  On  the  way 
the  torch  went  out,  and  we  took  shelter  in  a  small  and 
lonely  Christian  chapel  to  rekindle  it.  Stuck  in  the 
rafters  of  the  chapel  was  a  branch  of  knotted  palm. 
"What  is  that.?"  I  asked.     "O,  that's  Devil- work," 

350 


DEVIL-WORK 

said  the  Captain.  "And  what  is  Devil-work?"  I  in- 
quired. "  If  you  like,  I'll  show  you  some  when  we  get 
to  Johnnie's,"  he  replied.  "Johnnie's"  was  a  quaint 
little  house  upon  the  crest  of  the  beach,  raised  some 
three  feet  on  posts,  approached  by  stairs;  part  walled, 
part  trellised.  Trophies  of  advertisement-photographs 
were  hung  up  within  for  decoration.  There  was  a  table 
and  a  recess-bed,  in  which  Mrs.  Stevenson  slept;  while 
I  camped  on  the  matted  floor  with  Johnnie,  Mrs.  John- 
nie, her  sister,  and  the  devil's  own  regiment  of  cock- 
roaches. Hither  was  summoned  an  old  witch,  who 
looked  the  part  to  horror.  The  lamp  was  set  on  the 
floor;  the  crone  squatted  on  the  threshold,  a  green 
palm-branch  in  her  hand,  the  light  striking  full  on  her 
aged  features  and  picking  out  behind  her,  from  the 
black  night,  timorous  faces  of  spectators.  Our  sorceress 
began  with  a  chanted  incantation;  it  was  in  the  old 
tongue,  for  which  I  had  no  interpreter;  but  ever  and 
again  there  ran  among  the  crowd  outside  that  laugh 
which  every  traveller  in  the  islands  learns  so  soon  to 
recognise, — the  laugh  of  terror.  Doubtless  these  half- 
Christian  folk  were  shocked,  these  half-heathen  folk 
alarmed.  Chench  or  Taburik  thus  invoked,  we  put 
our  questions;  the  witch  knotted  the  leaves,  here  a  leaf 
and  there  a  leaf,  plainly  on  some  arithmetical  system ; 
studied  the  result  with  great  apparent  contention  of 
mind;  and  gave  the  answers.  Sidney  Colvin  was  in 
robust  health  and  gone  a  journey;  and  we  should  have 
a  fair  wind  upon  the  morrow ;  that  was  the  result  of  our 
consultation,  for  which  we  paid  a  dollar.  The  next  day 
dawned  cloudless  and  breathless;  but  I  think  Captain 
Reid  placed  a  secret  reliance  on  the  sybil,  for  the  schooner 

351 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

was  got  ready  for  sea.  By  eight  the  lagoon  was  flawed 
with  long  cat's-paws,  and  the  palms  tossed  and  rustled; 
before  ten  we  were  clear  of  the  passage  and  skimming 
under  all  plain  sail,  with  bubbling  scuppers.  So  we  had 
the  breeze,  which  was  well  worth  a  dollar  in  itself;  but 
the  bulletin  about  my  friend  in  England  proved,  some 
six  months  later,  when  I  got  my  mail,  to  have  been 
groundless.  Perhaps  London  lies  beyond  the  horizon 
of  the  island  gods. 

Tembinok',  in  his  first  dealings,  showed  himself 
sternly  averse  from  superstition:  and  had  not  the  Equa- 
tor delayed,  we  might  have  left  the  island  and  still  sup- 
posed him  an  agnostic.  It  chanced  one  day,  however, 
that  he  came  to  our  maniap',  and  found  Mrs.  Stevenson 
in  the  midst  of  a  game  of  patience.  She  explained  the 
game  as  well  as  she  was  able,  and  wound  up  jocularly 
by  telling  him  this  was  her  devil-work,  and  if  she 
won,  the  Equator  would  arrive  next  day.  Tembinok' 
must  have  drawn  a  long  breath;  we  were  not  so  high 
and  dry  after  all;  he  need  no  longer  dissemble,  and  he 
plunged  at  once  into  confessions.  He  made  devil-work 
every  day,  he  told  us,  to  know  if  ships  were  coming  in ; 
and  thereafter  brought  us  regular  reports  of  the  results. 
It  was  surprising  how  regularly  he  was  wrong;  but  he 
had  always  an  explanation  ready.  There  had  been  some 
schooner  in  the  offing  out  of  view;  but  either  she  was 
not  bound  for  Apemama,  or  had  changed  her  course,  or 
lay  becalmed.  1  used  to  regard  the  king  with  venera- 
tion as  he  thus  publicly  deceived  himself  I  saw  behind 
him  all  the  fathers  of  the  Church,  all  the  philosophers 
and  men  of  science  of  the  past;  before  him,  all  those 
that  are  to  come ;  himself  in  the  midst ;  the  whole  vision- 

352 


DEVIL-WORK 

ary  series  bowed  over  the  same  task  of  welding  incon- 
gruities. To  the  end  Tembinok'  spoke  reluctantly  of 
the  island  gods  and  their  worship,  and  1  learned  but 
little.  Taburik  is  the  god  of  thunder,  and  deals  in  wind 
and  weather.  A  while  since  there  were  wizards  who 
could  call  him  down  in  the  form  of  lightning,  "My 
patha  he  tell  me  he  see:  you  think  he  lie.'*"  Tienti  — 
pronounced  something  like  "Chench,"  and  identified 
by  his  majesty  with  the  devil  —  sends  and  removes 
bodily  sickness.  He  is  whistled  for  in  the  Paumotuan 
manner,  and  is  said  to  appear;  but  the  king  has  never 
seen  him.  The  doctors  treat  disease  by  the  aid  of 
Chench:  eclectic  Tembinok'  at  the  same  time  adminis- 
tering "pain-killer"  from  his  medicine-chest,  so  as  to 
give  the  sufferer  both  chances.  "I  think  mo'  betta," 
observed  his  majesty,  with  more  than  his  usual  self- 
approval.  Apparently  the  gods  are  not  jealous,  and 
placidly  enjoy  both  shrine  and  priest  in  common.  On 
Tamaiti's  medicine-tree,  for  instance,  the  model  canoes 
are  hung  up  ex  voto  for  a  prosperous  voyage,  and  must 
therefore  be  dedicate  to  Taburik,  god  of  the  weather; 
but  the  stone  in  front  is  the  place  of  sick  folk  come  to 
pacify  Chench. 

It  chanced,  by  great  good  luck,  that  even  as  we  spoke 
of  these  affairs,  1  found  myself  threatened  with  a  cold. 
I  do  not  suppose  I  was  ever  glad  of  a  cold  before,  or 
shall  ever  be  again;  but  the  opportunity  to  see  the  sor- 
cerers at  work  was  priceless,  and  1  called  in  the  faculty 
of  Apemama.  They  came  in  a  body,  all  in  their  Sun- 
day's best  and  hung  with  wreaths  and  shells,  the  insig- 
nia of  the  devil-worker.  Tamaiti  I  knew  already: 
Terutak'  I  saw  for  the  first  time  —  a  tall,  lank,  raw- 

353 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

boned,  serious  North-Sea  fisherman  turned  brown;  and 
there  was  a  third  in  their  company  whose  name  I  never 
heard,  and  who  played  to  Tamaiti  the  part  of  famulus. 
Tamaiti  took  me  in  hand  first,  and  led  me,  conversing 
agreeably,  to  the  shores  of  Fu  Bay.  The  faniu  I  its  dimhed 
a  tree  for  some  green  cocoa-nuts.  Tamaiti  himself  dis- 
appeared a  while  in  the  bush  and  returned  with  coco 
tinder,  dry  leaves,  and  a  spray  of  waxberry.  I  was 
placed  on  the  stone,  with  my  back  to  the  tree  and  my 
face  to  windward;  between  me  and  the  gravel-heap 
one  of  the  green  nuts  was  set;  and  then  Tamaiti  (hav- 
ing previously  bared  his  feet,  for  he  had  come  in  can- 
vas shoes,  which  tortured  him)  joined  me  within  the 
magic  circle,  hollowed  out  the  top  of  the  gravel-heap, 
built  his  fire  in  the  bottom,  and  applied  a  match:  it  was 
one  of  Bryant  and  May's.  The  flame  was  slow  to  catch, 
and  the  irreverent  sorcerer  filled  in  the  time  with  talk 
of  foreign  places  —  of  London,  and  "  companies,"  and 
how  much  money  they  had;  of  San  Francisco,  and  the 
nefarious  fogs,  "all  the  same  smoke,"  which  had  been 
so  nearly  the  occasion  of  his  death.  1  tried  vainly  to 
lead  him  to  the  matter  in  hand.  "Everybody  make 
medicine,"  he  said  lightly.  And  when  I  asked  him  if 
he  were  himself  a  good  practitioner —  "No  savvy,"  he 
replied,  more  lightly  still.  At  length  the  leaves  burst 
in  a  flame,  which  he  continued  to  feed;  a  thick,  light 
smoke  blew  in  my  face,  and  the  flames  streamed  against 
and  scorched  my  clothes.  He  in  the  meanwhile  ad- 
dressed, or  affected  to  address,  the  evil  spirit,  his  lips 
moving  fast,  but  without  sound;  at  the  same  time  he 
waved  in  the  air  and  twice  struck  me  on  the  breast 
with  his  green  spray.    So  soon  as  the  leaves  were  con- 

354 


DEVIl-WORK 

sumed  the  ashes  were  buried,  the  green  spray  was  im- 
bedded in  the  gravel,  and  the  ceremony  was  at  an  end. 

A  reader  of  the  Arabian  Nights  felt  quite  at  home. 
Here  was  the  suffumigation ;  here  was  the  muttering 
wizard;  here  was  the  desert  place  to  which  Aladdin 
was  decoyed  by  the  false  uncle.  But  they  manage  these 
things  better  in  fiction.  The  effect  was  marred  by  the 
levity  of  the  magician,  entertaining  his  patient  with 
small  talk  like  an  affable  dentist,  and  by  the  incongruous 
presence  of  Mr.  Osbourne  with  a  camera.  As  for  my 
cold,  it  was  neither  better  nor  worse. 

I  was  now  handed  over  to  Terutak',  the  leading  practi- 
tioner or  medical  baronet  of  Apemama.  His  place  is  on 
the  lagoon  side  of  the  island,  hard  by  the  palace.  A  rail 
of  light  wood,  some  two  feet  high,  encloses  an  oblong 
piece  of  gravel  like  the  king's  Pray  Place;  in  the  midst 
is  a  green  tree ;  below,  a  stone  table  bears  a  pair  of  boxes 
covered  with  a  fine  mat;  and  in  front  of  these  an  offer- 
ing of  food,  a  cocoa-nut,  a  piece  of  taro  or  a  fish,  is  placed 
daily.  On  two  sides  the  enclosure  is  lined  with  maniap's ; 
and  one  of  our  party,  who  had  been  there  to  sketch,  had 
remarked  a  daily  concourse  of  people  and  an  extraordin- 
ary number  of  sick  children;  for  this  is  in  fact  the  in- 
firmary of  Apemama.  The  doctor  and  myself  entered  the 
sacred  place  alone ;  the  boxes  and  the  mat  were  displaced ; 
and  I  was  enthroned  in  their  stead  upon  the  stone,  fac- 
ing once  more  to  the  east.  For  a  while  the  sorcerer  re- 
mained unseen  behind  me,  making  passes  in  the  air  with 
a  branch  of  palm.  Then  he  struck  lightly  on  the  brim 
of  my  straw  hat;  and  this  blow  he  continued  to  repeat 
at  intervals,  sometimes  brushing  instead  my  arm  and 
shoulder.     I  have  had  people  try  to  mesmerise  me  a 

355 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

dozen  times,  and  never  with  the  least  result.  But  at 
the  first  tap  —  on  a  quarter  no  more  vital  than  my  hat- 
brim,  and  from  nothing  more  virtuous  than  a  switch  of 
palm  wielded  by  a  man  1  could  not  even  see  —  sleep 
rushed  upon  me  like  an  armed  man.  My  sinews  fainted, 
my  eyes  closed,  my  brain  hummed,  with  drowsiness. 
I  resisted  —  at  first  instinctively,  then  with  a  sudden 
flurry  of  despair,  in  the  end  successfully ;  if  that  were  in- 
deed success  which  enabled  me  to  scramble  to  my  feet, 
to  stumble  home  somnambulous,  to  cast  myself  at  once 
upon  my  bed,  and  sink  at  once  into  a  dreamless  stupor. 
When  i  awoke  my  cold  was  gone.  So  I  leave  a  matter 
that  I  do  not  understand. 

Meanwhile  my  appetite  for  curiosities  (not  usually  very 
keen)  had  been  strangely  whetted  by  the  sacred  boxes. 
They  were  of  pandanus  wood,  oblong  in  shape,  with 
an  effect  of  pillaring  along  the  sides  like  straw  work, 
lightly  fringed  with  hair  or  fibre  and  standing  on  four 
legs.  The  outside  was  neat  as  a  toy ;  the  inside  a  mys- 
tery I  was  resolved  to  penetrate.  But  there  was  a  lion 
in  the  path.  I  might  not  approach  Terutak',  since  1  had 
promised  to  buy  nothing  in  the  island;  I  dared  not  have 
recourse  to  the  king,  for  1  had  already  received  from 
him  more  gifts  than  I  knew  how  to  repay.  In  this 
dilemma  (the  schooner  being  at  last  returned)  we  hit  on 
a  device.  Captain  Reid  came  forward  in  my  stead, 
professed  an  unbridled  passion  for  the  boxes,  and  asked 
and  obtained  leave  to  bargain  for  them  with  the  wizard. 
That  same  afternoon  the  captain  and  1  made  haste  to  the 
infirmary,  entered  the  enclosure,  raised  the  mat,  and 
had  begun  to  examine  the  boxes  at  our  leisure,  when 
Terutak's  wife  bounced  out  of  one  of  the  nigh  houses, 

356 


DEVIL-WORK 

fell  upon  us,  swept  up  the  treasures,  and  was  gone. 
There  was  never  a  more  absolute  surprise.  She  came, 
she  took,  she  vanished,  we  had  not  a  guess  whither; 
and  we  remained,  with  foolish  looks  and  laughter,  on 
the  empty  field.  Such  was  the  fit  prologue  of  our 
memorable  bargaining. 

Presently  Terutak'  came,  bringing  Tamaiti  along  with 
him,  both  smiling;  and  we  four  squatted  without  the 
rail.  In  the  three  maniap's  of  the  infirmary  a  certain 
audience  was  gathered :  the  family  of  a  sick  child  under 
treatment,  the  king's  sister  playing  cards,  a  pretty  girl, 
who  swore  I  was  the  image  of  her  father;  in  all  perhaps 
a  score.  Terutak's  wife  had  returned  (even  as  she  had 
vanished)  unseen,  and  now  sat,  breathless  and  watch- 
ful, by  her  husband's  side.  Perhaps  some  rumour  of 
our  quest  had  gone  abroad,  or  perhaps  we  had  given 
the  alert  by  our  unseemly  freedom :  certain,  at  least,  that 
in  the  faces  of  all  present  expectation  and  alarm  were 
mingled. 

Captain  Reid  announced,  without  preface  or  disguise, 
that  I  was  come  to  purchase;  Terutak',  with  sudden 
gravity,  refused  to  sell.  He  was  pressed;  he  persisted. 
It  was  explained  we  only  wanted  one:  no  matter,  two 
were  necessary  for  the  healing  of  the  sick.  H<^  was 
rallied,  he  was  reasoned  with :  in  vain.  He  sat  there, 
serious  and  still,  and  refused.  All  this  was  only  a  pre- 
liminary skirmish;  hitherto  no  sum  of  money  had  been 
mentioned;  but  now  the  captain  brought  his  great  guns 
to  bear.  He  named  a  pound,  then  two,  then  three. 
Out  of  the  maniap's  one  person  after  another  came  to 
join  the  group,  some  with  mere  excitement,  others  with 
consternation  in  their  faces.     The  pretty  girl  crept  to 

357 


THE  SOUTH    SEAS 

my  side ;  it  was  then  that  —  surely  with  the  most  artless 
flattery  —  she  informed  me  of  my  likeness  to  her  father. 
Tamaiti  the  infidel  sat  with  hanging  head  and  every 
mark  of  dejection.  Terutak'  streamed  with  sweat,  his 
eye  was  glazed,  his  face  wore  a  painful  rictus,  his  chest 
heaved  like  that  of  one  spent  with  running.  The  man 
must  have  been  by  nature  covetous;  and  I  doubt  if  ever 
I  saw  moral  agony  more  tragically  displayed.  His  wife 
by  his  side  passionately  encouraged  his  resistance. 

And  now  came  the  charge  of  the  old  guard.  The 
captain,  making  a  skip,  named  the  surprising  figure  of 
five  pounds.  At  the  word  the  maniap's  were  emptied. 
The  king's  sister  flung  down  her  cards  and  came  to  the 
front  to  listen,  a  cloud  on  her  brow.  The  pretty  girl 
beat  her  breast  and  cried  with  wearisome  iteration  that 
if  the  box  were  hers  I  should  have  it.  Terutak's  wife 
was  beside  herself  with  pious  fear,  her  face  discom- 
posed, her  voice  (which  scarce  ceased  from  warning 
and  encouragement)  shrill  as  a  whistle.  Even  Teru- 
tak' lost  that  image-like  immobility  which  he  had 
hitherto  maintained.  He  rocked  on  his  mat,  threw  up 
his  closed  knees  alternately,  and  struck  himself  on  the 
breast  after  the  manner  of  dancers.  But  he  came  gold 
out  of  the  furnace;  and  with  what  voice  was  M\  him 
continued  to  reject  the  bribe. 

And  now  came  a  timely  interjection.  "  Money  will 
not  heal  the  sick,"  observed  the  king's  sister  senten- 
tiously;  and  as  soon  as  I  heard  the  remark  translated 
my  eyes  were  unsealed,  and  I  began  to  blush  for  my 
employment.  Here  was  a  sick  child,  and  1  sought,  in 
the  view  of  its  parents,  to  remove  the  medicine-box. 
Here  was  the  priest  of  a  religion,  and  1  (a  heathen  mil- 

358 


DEVIL-WORK 

lionaire)  was  corrupting  him  to  sacrilege.  Here  was  a 
greedy  man,  torn  in  twain  betwixt  greed  and  con- 
science; and  I  sat  by  and  relished,  and  lustfully  re- 
newed his  torments.  Ave,  Ccvsar  !  Smothered  in  a  cor- 
ner, dormant  but  not  dead,  we  have  all  the  one  touch  of 
nature:  an  infont  passion  for  the  sand  and  blood  of  the 
arena.  So  1  brought  to  an  end  my  first  and  last  experi- 
ence of  the  joys  of  the  millionaire,  and  departed  amid  si- 
lent awe.  Nowhere  else  can  1  expect  to  stir  the  depths 
of  human  nature  by  an  offer  of  five  pounds;  nowhere 
else,  even  at  the  expense  of  millions,  could  I  hope  to 
see  the  evil  of  riches  stand  so  legibly  exposed.  Of  all 
the  bystanders,  none  but  the  king's  sister  retained  any 
memory  of  the  gravity  and  danger  of  the  thing  in  hand. 
Their  eyes  glowed,  the  girl  beat  her  breast,  in  senseless 
animal  excitement.  Nothing  was  offered  them;  they 
stood  neither  to  gain  nor  to  lose;  at  the  mere  name  and 
wind  of  these  great  sums  Satan  possessed  them. 

From  this  singular  interview  I  went  straight  to  the 
palace;  found  the  king;  confessed  what  1  had  been  do- 
ing; begged  him,  in  my  name,  to  compliment  Terutak' 
on  his  virtue,  and  to  have  a  similar  box  made  for  me 
against  the  return  of  the  schooner.  Tembinok',  Ru- 
bam,  and  one  of  the  Daily  Papers  —  him  we  used  "o  call 
"  the  Facetiae  Column"  —  laboured  for  a  while  of  some 
idea,  which  was  at  last  intelligibly  delivered.  They 
feared  I  thought  the  box  would  cure  me;  whereas, 
without  the  wizard,  it  was  useless;  and  when  I  was 
threatened  with  another  cold  1  should  do  better  to  rely 
on  pain-killer.  I  explained  I  merely  wished  to  keep  it 
in  my  "  outch  "  as  a  thing  made  in  Apemama;  and 
these  honest  men  were  much  relieved. 

359 


THE  SOUTH  SEAS 

Late  the  same  evening,  my  wife,  crossing  the  isle  to 
windward,  was  aware  of  singing  in  the  bush.  Nothing 
is  more  common  in  that  hour  and  place  than  the  jubi- 
lant carol  of  the  toddy-cutter,  swinging  high  overhead, 
beholding  below  him  the  narrow  ribbon  of  the  isle,  the 
surrounding  field  of  ocean,  and  the  fires  of  the  sunset. 
But  this  was  of  a  graver  character,  and  seemed  to  pro- 
ceed from  the  ground-level.  Advancing  a  little  in  the 
thicket,  Mrs.  Stevenson  saw  a  clear  space,  a  fine  mat 
spread  in  the  midst,  and  on  the  mat  a  wreath  of  white 
flowers  and  one  of  the  devil-work  boxes.  A  woman 
—  whom  we  guess  to  have  been  Mrs.  Terutak'  —  sat  in 
front,  now  drooping  over  the  box  like  a  mother  over  a 
cradle,  now  lifting  her  face  and  directing  her  song  to 
heaven.  A  passing  toddy-cutter  told  my  wife  that  she 
was  praying.  Probably  she  did  not  so  much  pray  as 
deprecate;  and  perhaps  even  the  ceremony  was  one  of 
disenchantment.  For  the  box  was  already  doomed;  it 
was  to  pass  from  its  green  medicine-tree,  reverend  pre- 
cinct, and  devout  attendants;  to  be  handled  by  the  pro- 
fane; to  cross  three  seas;  to  come  to  land  under  the 
foolscap  of  St.  Paul's;  to  be  domesticated  within  hail  of 
Lillie  Bridge;  there  to  be  dusted  by  the  British  house- 
maid, and  to  take  perhaps  the  roar  of  London  for  the 
voice  of  the  outer  sea  along  the  reef  Before  even  we 
had  finished  dinner  Chench  had  begun  his  journey,  and 
one  of  the  newspapers  had  already  placed  the  box  upon 
my  table  as  the  gift  of  Tembinok'. 

I  made  haste  to  the  palace,  thanked  the  king,  but  of- 
fered to  restore  the  box,  for  1  could  not  bear  that  the 
sick  of  the  island  should  be  made  to  suffer.  I  was 
amazed  by  his  reply.     Terutak',  it  appeared,  had  still 

360 


DEVIL-WORK 

three  or  four  in  reserve  against  an  accident;  and  his  re- 
luctance, and  the  dread  painted  at  first  on  every  face, 
was  not  in  the  least  occasioned  by  the  prospect  of  med- 
ical destitution,  but  by  the  immediate  divinity  of 
Chench.  How  much  more  did  1  respect  the  king's 
command,  which  had  been  able  to  extort  in  a  moment 
and  for  nothing  a  sacrilegious  favour  that  1  had  in  vain 
solicited  with  millions!  But  now  1  had  a  difficult  task 
in  front  of  me;  it  was  not  in  my  view  that  Terutak' 
should  suffer  by  his  virtue;  and  I  must  persuade  the 
king  to  share  my  opinion,  to  let  me  enrich  one  of  his 
subjects,  and  (what  was  yet  more  delicate)  to  pay  for 
my  present.  Nothing  shows  the  king  in  a  more  be- 
coming light  than  the  fact  that  I  succeeded.  He  de- 
murred at  the  principle;  he  exclaimed,  when  he  heard 
it,  at  the  sum.  "  Plenty  money! "  cried  he,  with  con- 
temptuous displeasure.  But  his  resistance  was  never 
serious;  and  when  he  had  blown  off  his  ill-humour  — 
"A'  right,"  said  he.     "You  give  him.     Mo'  betta." 

Armed  with  this  permission,  1  made  straight  for  the 
infirmary.  The  night  was  now  come,  cool,  dark,  and 
starry.  On  a  mat,  hard  by  a  clear  fire  of  wood  and 
coco-shell,  Terutak'  lay  beside  his  wife.  Both  were 
smiling;  the  agony  was  over,  the  king's  command  had 
reconciled  (I  must  suppose)  their  agitating  scruples; 
and  I  was  bidden  to  sit  by  them  and  share  the  circulat- 
ing pipe.  I  was  a  little  moved  myself  when  I  placed 
five  gold  sovereigns  in  the  wizard's  hand;  but  there 
was  no  sign  of  emotion  in  Terutak'  as  he  returned 
them,  pointed  to  the  palace,  and  named  Tembinok'. 
It  was  a  changed  scene  when  1  had  managed  to  ex- 
plain.   Terutak',  long,  dour  Scots  fisherman  as  he  was, 

561 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

expressed  his  satisfaction  within  bounds;  but  the  wife 
beamed;  and  there  was  an  old  gentleman  present  — 
her  father,  I  suppose  —  who  seemed  nigh  translated. 
His  eyes  stood  out  of  his  head;  "  Kaitpoi,  Kaiipoi — 
rich,  rich !  "  ran  on  his  lips  like  a  refrain ;  and  he  could 
not  meet  my  eye  but  what  he  gurgled  into  foolish 
laughter. 

I  might  now  go  home,  leaving  that  fire-lit  family 
party  gloating  over  their  new  millions,  and  consider 
my  strange  day.  I  had  tried  and  rewarded  the  virtue 
of  Terutak'.  1  had  played  the  millionaire,  had  behaved 
abominably,  and  then  in  some  degree  repaired  my 
thoughtlessness.  And  now  I  had  my  box,  and  could 
open  it  and  look  within.  It  contained  a  miniature 
sleeping-mat  and  a  white  shell.  Tamaiti,  interrogated 
next  day  as  to  the  shell,  explained  it  was  not  exactly 
Chench,  but  a  cell,  or  body,  which  he  would  at  times 
inhabit.  Asked  why  there  was  a  sleeping-mat,  he  re- 
torted indignantly,  "Why  have  you  mats  ?"  And  this 
was  the  sceptical  Tamaiti!  But  island  scepticism  is 
never  deeper  than  the  lips. 


362 


CHAPTER  VII 


THE    KING   OF   APEMAMA 


Thus  all  things  on  the  island,  even  the  priests  of  the 
gods,  obey  the  word  of  Tembinok'.  He  can  give  and 
take,  and  slay,  and  allay  the  scruples  of  the  conscien- 
tious, and  do  all  things  (apparently)  but  interfere  in  the 
cookery  of  a  turtle.  "I  got  power"  is  his  favourite 
word;  it  interlards  his  conversation ;  the  thought  haunts 
him  and  is  ever  fresh;  and  when  he  has  asked  and 
meditates  of  foreign  countries,  he  looks  up  with  a 
smile  and  reminds  you,  '''■/  got  power."  Nor  is  his 
delight  only  in  the  possession,  but  in  the  exercise.  He 
rejoices  in  the  crooked  and  violent  paths  of  kingship 
like  a  strong  man  to  run  a  race,  or  like  an  artist  in  his 
art.  To  feel,  to  use  his  power,  to  embellish  his  island 
and  the  picture  of  the  island  life  after  a  private  ideal,  to 
milk  the  island  vigorously,  to  extend  his  singular  mu- 
seum—  these  employ  delightfully  the  sum  of  his  abili- 
ties. I  never  saw  a  man  more  patently  in  the  right 
trade. 

It  would  be  natural  to  suppose  this  monarchy  in- 
herited intact  through  generations.  And  so  ftir  from 
that,  it  is  a  thing  of  yesterday.  I  was  already  a  boy  at 
school  while  Apemama  was  yet  republican,  ruled  by  a 
noisy  council  of  Old  Men,  and  torn  with  incurable  feuds. 

363 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

And  Tembinok'  is  no  Bourbon;  rather  the  son  of  a 
Napoleon.  Of  course  he  is  well-born.  No  man  need 
aspire  high  in  the  isles  of  the  Pacific  unless  his  pedigree 
be  long  and  in  the  upper  regions  mythical.  And  our 
king  counts  cousinship  with  most  of  the  high  families 
in  the  archipelago,  and  traces  his  descent  to  a  shark 
and  a  heroic  woman.  Directed  by  an  oracle,  she  swam 
beyond  sight  of  land  to  meet  her  revolting  paramour, 
and  received  at  sea  the  seed  of  a  predestined  family. 
"  I  think  lie,"  is  the  king's  emphatic  commentary;  yet 
he  is  proud  of  the  legend.  From  this  illustrious  begin- 
ning the  fortunes  of  the  race  must  have  declined ;  and 
Tehkoruti,  the  grandfather  of  Tembinok',  was  the  chief 
of  a  village  at  the  north  end  of  the  island.  Kuria  and 
Aranuka  were  yet  independent;  Apemama  itself  the 
arena  of  devastating  feuds.  Through  this  perturbed 
period  of  history  the  figure  of  Tefikoruti  stalks  memor- 
able. In  war  he  was  swift  and  bloody;  several  towns 
fell  to  his  spear,  and  the  inhabitants  were  butchered  to  a 
man.  In  civil  life  his  arrogance  was  unheard  of.  When 
the  council  of  Old  Men  was  summoned,  he  went  to  the 
Speak  House,  delivered  his  mind,  and  left  without 
waiting  to  be  answered.  Wisdom  had  spoken:  let 
others  opine  according  to  their  folly.  He  was  feared 
and  hated,  and  this  was  his  pleasure.  He  was  no  poet; 
he  cared  not  for  arts  or  knowledge.  "My  gran'patha 
one  thing  savvy,  savvy  pight,"  observed  the  king.  In 
some  lull  of  their  own  disputes  the  Old  Men  of  Ape- 
mama  adventured  on  the  conquest  of  Apemama;  and 
this  unlicked  Caius  Marcius  was  elected  general  of  the 
united  troops.  Success  attended  him;  the  islands  were 
reduced,  and  Tenkoruti  returned  to  his  own  govern- 

364 


THE   KING   OF   APEMAMA 

ment,  glorious  and  detested.  He  died  about  i860,  in 
the  seventieth  year  of  his  age  and  the  full  odour  of  un- 
popularity. He  was  tall  and  lean,  says  his  grandson, 
looked  extremely  old,  and  "  walked  all  the  same  young 
man."  The  same  observer  gave  me  a  significant  de- 
tail. The  survivors  of  that  rough  epoch  were  all  de- 
faced with  spearmarks;  there  was  none  on  the  body 
of  this  skilful  fighter.  "I  see  old  man,  no  got  a  spear," 
said  the  king. 

Terikoruti  left  two  sons,  Tembaitake  and  Tembina- 
take.  Tembaitake,  our  king's  father,  was  short,  mid- 
dling stout,  a  poet,  a  good  genealogist,  and  something 
of  a  fighter;  it  seems  he  took  himself  seriouslv,  and 
was  perhaps  scarce  conscious  that  he  was  in  all  things 
the  creature  and  nursling  of  his  brother.  There  was 
no  shadow  of  dispute  between  the  pair:  the  greater 
man  filled  with  alacrity  and  content  the  second  place; 
held  the  breach  in  war,  and  all  the  portfolios  in  the  time 
of  peace;  and,  when  his  brother  rated  him,  listened  in 
silence,  looking  on  the  ground.  Like  Tehkoruti,  he 
was  tall  and  lean  and  a  swift  walker — a  rare  trait  in 
the  islands.  He  possessed  everv  accomplishment.  He 
knew  sorcery,  he  was  the  best  genealogist  of  his  day, 
he  was  a  poet,  he  could  dance  and  make  canoes  and 
armour;  and  the  famous  mast  of  Apemama,  W'hich  ran 
one  joint  higher  than  the  mainmast  of  a  full-rigged  ship, 
was  of  his  conception  and  design.  But  these  were 
avocations,  and  the  man's  trade  was  war.  "When 
my  uncle  go  make  wa',  he  laugh,"  said  Temibinok'. 
He  forbade  the  use  of  field  fortification,  that  protractor 
of  native  hostilities;  his  men  must  fight  in  the  open, 
and  win  or  be  beaten  out  of  hand;  his  own  activity 


THE  SOUTH   SEAS 

inspired  his  followers;  and  the  swiftness  of  his  blows 
beat  down,  in  one  lifetime,  the  resistance  of  three  isl- 
ands. He  made  his  brother  sovereign,  he  left  his 
nephew  absolute.  "My  uncle  make  all  smooth,"  said 
Tembinok'.  "I  mo'  king  than  my  patha :  1  got  power," 
he  said,  with  formidable  relish. 

Such  is  the  portrait  of  the  uncle  drawn  by  the  nephew. 
1  can  set  beside  it  another  by  a  different  artist,  who  has 
often — I  may  say  always  —  delighted  me  with  his  ro- 
mantic taste  in  narrative,  but  not  always  —  and  I  may 
say  not  often  —  persuaded  me  of  his  exactitude.  I  have 
already  denied  myself  the  use  of  so  much  excellent 
matter  from  the  same  source,  that  I  begin  to  think  it 
time  to  reward  good  resolution;  and  his  account  of 
Tembinatake  agrees  so  well  with  the  king's,  that  it 
may  very  well  be  (what  I  hope  it  is)  the  record  of  a 
fact,  and  not  (what  I  suspect)  the  pleasing  exercise  of 
an  imagination  more  than  sailorly.  A.,  for  so  I  had  per- 
haps better  call  him,  was  walking  up  the  island  after 
dusk,  when  he  came  on  a  lighted  village  of  some  size, 
was  directed  to  the  chiefs  house,  and  asked  leave  to 
rest  and  smoke  a  pipe.  "You  will  sit  down,  and 
smoke  a  pipe,  and  wash,  and  eat,  and  sleep,"  replied 
the  chief,  "and  to-morrow  you  will  go  again."  Food 
was  brought,  prayers  were  held  (for  this  was  in  the 
brief  day  of  Christianity),  and  the  chief  himself  prayed 
with  eloquence  and  seeming  sincerity.  All  evening  A. 
sat  and  admired  the  man  by  the  firelight.  He  was  six 
feet  high,  lean,  with  the  appearance  of  many  years,  and 
an  extraordinary  air  of  breeding  and  command.  "  He 
looked  like  a  man  who  would  kill  you  laughing,"  said 
A.,  in  singular  echo  of  one  of  the  king's  expressions. 

366 


THE   KING   OF   APEMAMA 

And  again:  "  I  had  been  reading  the  Musketeer  books, 
and  he  reminded  me  of  Aramis."  Such  is  the  portrait 
of  Tembinatake,  drawn  by  an  expert  romancer. 

We  had  heard  many  tales  of  "my  patha";  never  a 
word  of  my  uncle  till  two  days  before  we  left.  As  the 
time  approached  for  our  departure  Tembinok'  became 
greatly  changed;  a  softer,  a  more  melancholy,  and,  in 
particular,  a  more  confidential  man  appeared  in  his 
stead.  To  my  wife  he  contrived  laboriously  to  explain 
that  though  he  knew  he  must  lose  his  father  in  the 
course  of  nature,  he  had  not  minded  nor  realised  it  till 
the  moment  came;  and  that  now  he  was  to  lose  us  he 
repeated  the  experience.  We  showed  fireworks  one 
evening  on  the  terrace,  it  was  a  heavy  business;  the 
sense  of  separation  was  in  all  our  minds,  and  the  talk 
languished.  The  king  was  specially  affected,  sat  dis- 
consolate on  his  mat,  and  often  sighed.  Of  a  sudden 
one  of  the  wives  stepped  forth  from  a  cluster,  came  and 
kissed  him  in  silence,  and  silently  went  again.  It  was 
just  such  a  caress  as  we  might  give  to  a  disconsolate 
child,  and  the  king  received  it  with  a  child's  simplicity. 
Presently  after  we  said  good-night  and  withdrew;  but 
Tembinok'  detained  Mr.  Osbourne,  patting  the  mat  by 
his  side  and  saying:  "Sit  down.  1  feel  bad,  1  like  talk." 
Osbourne  sat  down  by  him.  "  You  like  some  beer  ?  " 
said  he;  and  one  of  the  wives  produced  a  bottle.  The 
king  did  not  partake,  but  sat  sighing  and  smoking  a 
meerschaum  pipe.  "1  very  sorry  you  go,"  he  said  at 
last.  "Miss  Stlevenshegood  man,  woman  he  good  man, 
boy  he  good  man ;  all  good  man.  Woman  he  smart 
all  the  same  man.  My  woman  "  (glancing  towards  his 
wives)  "he  good  woman,  no  very  smart.    I  think  Miss 

367 


THE   SOUTH   SEAS 

Stlevens  he  big  chiep  all  the  same  cap'n  man-o-wa'. 
I  think  Miss  Stlevens  he  rich  man  all  the  same  me.  All 
go  schoona.  I  very  sorry.  My  patha  he  go,  my  uncle 
he  go,  my  cutcheons  he  go.  Miss  Stlevens  he  go:  all 
go.  You  no  see  king  cry  before.  King  all  the  same 
man:  feel  bad,  he  cry.     I  very  sorry." 

In  the  morning  it  was  the  common  topic  in  the  vil- 
lage that  the  king  had  wept.  To  me  he  said:  "Last 
night  1  no  can  'peak:  too  much  here,"  laying  his  hand 
upon  his  bosom.  "Now  you  go  away  all  the  same 
my  pamily.  My  brothers,  my  uncle  go  away.  All  the 
same."  This  was  said  with  a  dejection  almost  pas- 
sionate. And  it  was  the  first  time  I  had  heard  him 
name  his  uncle,  or  indeed  employ  the  word.  The  same 
day  he  sent  me  a  present  of  two  corselets,  made  in  the 
island  fashion  of  plaited  fibre,  heavy  and  strong.  One 
had  been  worn  by  Tehkoruti,  one  by  Tembaitake;  and 
the  gift  being  gratefully  received,  he  sent  me,  on  the 
return  of  his  messengers,  a  third — that  of  Tembina- 
take.  My  curiosity  was  roused ;  I  begged  for  informa- 
tion as  to  the  three  wearers;  and  the  king  entered  with 
gusto  into  the  details  already  given.  Here  was  a  strange 
thing,  that  he  should  have  talked  so  much  of  his  family, 
and  not  once  mentioned  that  relative  of  whom  he  was 
plainly  the  most  proud.  Nay,  more:  he  had  hitherto 
boasted  of  his  father;  thenceforth  he  had  little  to  say 
of  him;  and  the  qualities  for  which  he  had  praised  him 
in  the  past  were  now  attributed  where  they  were  due, 
—  to  the  uncle.  A  confusion  might  be  natural  enough 
among  islanders,  who  call  all  the  sons  of  their  grand- 
father by  the  common  name  of  father.  But  this  was 
not  the  case  with  Tembinok'.    Now  the  ice  was  broken 

30S 


THE   KING   OF   APEMAMA 

the  word  uncle  was  perpetUci'.ly  in  his  mouth;  he  who 
had  been  so  ready  to  confound  was  now  careful  to  dis- 
tinguish; and  the  father  sank  gradually  into  a  self-com- 
placent ordinary  man,  while  the  uncle  rose  to  his  true 
stature  as  the  hero  and  founder  of  the  race. 

The  more  I  heard  and  the  more  I  considered,  the 
more  this  mystery  of  Tembinok's  behaviour  puzzled 
and  attracted  me.  And  the  explanation,  when  it  came, 
was  one  to  strike  the  imagination  of  a  dramatist.  Tem- 
binok'  had  two  brothers.  One,  detected  in  private 
trading,  was  banished,  then  forgiven,  lives  to  this  day 
in  the  island,  and  is  the  father  of  the  heir-apparent, 
Paul.  The  other  fell  beyond  forgiveness.  I  have  heard 
it  was  a  love-affair  with  one  of  the  king's  wives,  and 
the  thing  is  highly  possible  in  that  romantic  archipelago. 
War  was  attempted  to  be  levied;  but  Tembinok'  was 
too  swift  for  the  rebels,  and  the  guilty  brother  escaped 
in  a  canoe.  He  did  not  go  alone.  Tembinatake  had 
a  hand  in  the  rebellion,  and  the  man  who  had  gained 
a  kingdom  for  a  weakling  brother  was  banished  by  that 
brother's  son.  The  fugitives  came  to  shore  in  other 
islands,  but  Tembinok'  remains  to  this  day  ignorant  of 
their  fate. 

So  fiir  history.  And  now  a  moment  for  conjecture. 
Tembinok'  confused  habitually,  not  only  the  attributes 
and  merits  of  his  father  and  his  uncle,  but  their  diverse 
personal  appearance.  Before  he  had  even  spoken,  or 
thought  to  speak,  of  Tembinatake,  he  had  told  me  often 
of  a  tall,  lean  father,  skilled  in  war,  and  his  own  school- 
master in  genealogy  and  island  arts.  How  if  both  were 
fathers,  one  natural,  one  adoptive.^  How  if  the  heir  of 
Tembaitake,  like  the  heir  of  Tembinok'  himself,  were 

?69 


THE   SOUTH    SEAS 

not  a  son,  but  an  adopted  nephew  ?  How  if  the  founder 
of  the  monarchy,  while  he  worked  for  his  brother, 
worked  at  the  same  time  for  the  child  of  his  loins  ? 
How  if  on  the  death  of  Tembaitake,  the  two  stronger 
natures,  father  and  son,  king  and  kingmaker,  clashed, 
and  Tembinok',  when  he  drove  out  his  uncle,  drove  out 
the  author  of  his  days  ?  Here  is  at  least  a  tragedy  four- 
square. 

The  king  took  us  on  board  in  his  own  gig,  dressed 
for  the  occasion  in  the  naval  uniform.  He  had  little  to 
say,  he  refused  refreshments,  shook  us  briefly  by  the 
hand,  and  went  ashore  again.  That  night  the  palm- 
tops of  Apemama  had  dipped  behind  the  sea,  and  the 
schooner  sailed  solitary  under  the  stars. 


370 


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